Dentes
by kodak-85
Summary: “Naruto,” Sasuke whispered into the night, a dim smile lighting his lips. Twin pricks of dagger-like teeth protruded from beneath the seam of his mouth, and his cool hand continued to stroke back bright locks from his forehead. “Love. I’ve found you."
1. Teeth

_My teeth, they itch_

_Feeling blocky in my mouth_

_Shaky cement framework_

_Quaking in my mouth_

_Itching to dig in, not to flesh and bone_

_I need no flesh and bone_

_Take away the blood_

_With its copper aftertaste_

_Take away your meats_

_That rot upon my tongue_

_Take away sweet ambrosia_

_That turns to ash in my throat_

_Take away your nectar_

_Like a rattler's poison_

_Let my teeth reach something they need_

_Before they fall from bloody gaps_

_My teeth itch, my teeth itch_

_To sink into something real_

* * *

When Naruto saw his boyfriend that morning, standing across from him and across campus, beneath the tree and hidden in shadow nearly as dark as the sky, his first thought was, 'Oh God, is he sick?'

One delayed moment later he realized that wasn't the problem. He stood, ramrod straight, a foot from the bark of the tree. Sasuke, being the lazy bastard Naruto knew him to be, would always slouch against any flat and available surface around him rather than stand like a soldier at the front line. His hands weren't even tucked away into his pockets; they were balled into tiny specks the blond could only presume were fists.

'What the Hell's wrong with him?' he thought. It wasn't his awkward-looking stance that made him look sick, but Naruto couldn't pinpoint the reason for it anyway. He looked the same. He could still spy that unique hair; bangs framing his face, pointed spikes sprouting up from the back of his head. Naruto, who'd never pinned the man for being vain, once asked him about it. Sasuke had replied that it had always stuck up a bit since he we a child, like a hundred different cowlicks, and when gel wouldn't flatten it, he just gelled it the rest of the way up.

Not his hair, then; that looked the same. His eyes, perhaps? But Naruto was too far away to see those. Even at this distance, though, he felt as if his head were splitting at the seams from the force of an intent gaze.

'Is he sick?' The words ran through his head in a suspicious mantra, and even though he knew them to be false, he couldn't help but believe that there was something wrong.

Something was very, very wrong.

Was he mad? Did he let the mouth of the toothpaste bottle get too crusty again? Had he let too much dirty laundry pile up on their bedroom floor? Had he forgotten to fill the dishwasher with the dirty ware in the sink?

None of that could warrant the hard stare he was currently the object of, Naruto knew.

'What's wrong?'

Naruto, who was waiting for Kiba to get the books he'd forgotten from their shared class, considered abandoning his friend to go run up to him. He was about to follow through with the impulse when the brunet returned with a huff, head ducked and hands clasping his knees.

"Gott'em!" he snarled triumphantly. Naruto wasn't sure how he did it, but the other man always seemed to growl out his words rather than speak then, the animalistic side of his personality more prominent than any other part. "C'mon, let's go meet Hinata."

"Don't act like it's my fault," Naruto retorted, reluctantly pulling his eyes away from his lover to stare into brazen ones. "You're the one who's gonna make us late, dumbass."

"Then let's go already!"

"In just a second. I'm gonna go run over there and see what's wrong with the wife." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder, but Kiba just gave him a confused look.

"Huh?"

Rolling his eyes, Naruto turned to point Sasuke out, only to find the raven gone. The tree stood alone in the field of grass, gentle wisps of green, sinewy weed drenching its twisted roots. Just shadow below there.

"Where'd that bastard run off to," Naruto muttered, crossing his arms over his chest and cocking his head to the side. "He was there--"

"A second ago, yeah, yeah, I get it. I've seen enough horror movies already, thanks." Naruto snapped his head around and glared at the scowling man. "Enough fucking around, let's go!" He stepped forward to grab a hold of Naruto's shoulder, but the blond resiliently pulled back.

"I told you, mutt, it's your fault we're late! And he was standing right over there!" Naruto assed as an afterthought.

"Who, Sasuke?" Kiba snorted. "Guy's a creep. Pops up all over the place; makes sense he can pop away. Now let's _go_."

This time, when Kiba pulled him forward, Naruto didn't resist. He'd talk to him about it tonight, he resolved. And perhaps drown him in cough syrup.

* * *

He'd had the entire conversation planned out in his head. This wasn't the first time that Sasuke had hidden an illness due to his stubborn, pig-headed nature, Naruto thought. It was simple, easy, and well-rehearsed (the mirror took it rather well, a good sign). A simple, "Hey, Sasuke. How was your day?" Sasuke would be suspicious, as Naruto never inquired about his day directly upon arrival. A noncommittal grunt would meet his statement, and Naruto would nod, as if Sasuke had given a full-fledged explanation to a difficult algebraic expression. Naruto would then, quite politely, ask, "Do you want some tea? I just started some." Sasuke would be surprised by his thoughtfulness, of course, and would graciously take him up on the offer. And when they were both seated, Naruto would casually stand, to get some sugar for his tea being his excuse. He'd then casually brush against Sasuke's shoulder, and the raven was shudder uncontrollably, because really, who could resist Naruto? And, all cool and casual like, Naruto would say, "You feeling all right, Sasuke?" His boyfriend would look down, cheeks tinged, from embarrassment and obvious fever, and mumble, "I'm fine…" After some goading, Sasuke would eventually stutter out, "I'm just… feeling a little…." "Sick?" Naruto would finish understandingly. And when his blushing lover would nod, Naruto would sigh superiorly and brush dark bangs from a pale forehead and kiss the sweaty forehead. He'd offer to carry the boy to bed, and his offer would be taken up with a shy smile and sparkling smile.

His mirror approved of the plan whole-heartedly.

When Sasuke came in, sweating profusely from his brisk walk and the blistering, muggy heat from the outdoors, Naruto smiled cheekily and asked him how his day had gone.

Sasuke gave him a glare with enough heat to match the outdoors and snapped, "How do you think?" He let his shoulder bag slide off his shoulder and flump against the floor before bustling into the room. He slid his shoes off and wondered through the living room. Naruto stared after him, frowning. Well that hadn't gone the way he'd imagined it would…

Immediately skipping small talk, Naruto shadowed Sasuke into the kitchen, where the boy was getting himself a glass of water from the faucet.

"Wait!" Naruto cried. "I was just making tea and…." Sasuke slowly turned his head to look at him, and the blond blurted, "do-you-want-any?"

The incredulous look on Sasuke's face made him doubt his long-standing status as a human being. "Naruto," the raven began slowly, as if afraid to scare him off, "it's a hundred-ten degrees in the shade. Why in God's name would you make tea?"

"But you love tea…"

"Dobe. I'm swimming in my own sweat. I think I'll stick to water." And just as he pointedly rose the glass to take a sip, Naruto lunged forwards and grabbed his wrists, causing some of the water to slosh out and spill over their hands.

"Usuratonkachi!"

"Just wait! I have my reasons!" Reasons that weren't looking too good right now, but reasons nonetheless. "Tea's refreshing, ya know?"

"Yeah, when it's _cold_."

"But you don't drink cold tea!"

"You're right. It's disgusting."

"See? So I made you some hot!"

"Your hot tea is even worse. You let the tea bags soak too long and the tea leaves get in the water. It's like drinking mud."

This was very true, Naruto knew. Which was why he used so much sugar. Better to drink sweet mud than bitter mud. It was a great testament to their love that Sasuke choked down the stuff each and every time.

"Just… just…. Gah, fine! You don't have to drink the damned tea. You can drink your plain old water while I drink the whole kettle myself 'cause my boyfriends too much of a stubborn ass to even drink so much as a sip--"

"All right, fine!" Sasuke yanked his trapped wrist away from the shorter man's grasp and, with one longing look at the water, dumped it in the sink and let the plastic cup drop to the bottom of the sink. "There. Happy?" It was obvious the raven was too tired to put up much of a fight, and the blond was perfectly prepared to take full advantage of that.

Two minutes later, they sat across from each other at their diminutive dining room table, Sasuke making a poorly disguise look of absolute disgust as he managed a small sip of it, white Naruto happily blew across his and kicked his feet under the table.

Naruto rose the mug exaggeratingly slow to his lips, trying and failing to meet Sasuke's eyes, before abruptly setting it back down, the mug making a hollow thud where it ht the oak.

"I forgot the sugar," he said matter-of-factly. Sasuke looked up from his own mug of muck and cocked an eyebrow, waiting.

"You can't possibly expect me to get it for you, do you?"

Of course not.

Naruto heaved a dramatic sigh, standing up and pushing his chair in before circling around the table. He wouldn't need the chair. In a few moments time, he would be kneeling before the raven, soothing his hair back and attempting to soothe his obviously very distressed and sick nature.

When he had reached the other side, he casually leaned slightly to the left to brush against his lover's shoulder. Or at least tried to. He'd over-compensated his space, and leaned over too far, stumbling over his own two feet and ended up slamming straight into it.

Sasuke 'oof'ed. He'd never heard him make that noise before; it was a bit funny, really. But his following scream was not as amusing. It was more of a bone-chilling, I'm-going-to-die-now kind of scream that made Naruto gracelessly scramble to his feet and then backwards, but immediately forwards to survey the damage. Hot tea (sludge) all over the man's lap.

Ouch.

"Sasuke…." He murmured. "I'm so, so sorry. Hold on, lemme go get a paper-- Hnnh!"

Hnnh! because Sasuke had just looped a hand around to the scruffy hair at the nape of his head and yanked forward, causing him to fall to his knees before him. Well, he thought, he was on his knees. And in front of him. That was one part of the plan gone successful.

Wait, what was the plan again? He was finding it difficult to recall with those vivid gray eyes spelling out death for him in big, capital, neon-green letters.

"Naruto," and although Naruto had never made the acquaintance of a grim reaper, he was positive that this was the voice that would come rattling out from beneath the tattered robe, "what--"

"Are you sick?" he blurted out before Sasuke could get one more word in edgewise. Forget the plan. The new plan would be to live till morning. In a bed, hopefully, but that aspect of the plan was a bit shaky.

"I'm not the one sick in the head around here," Sasuke hissed. His pale skin seemed hauntingly thin, like it was too small to cage the growing anger that obviously swelled up like a typhoon. His eyes almost glowed red and an immediate revision of tactics seemed to be the recommended way to go.

But the blond's hair seemed to be the only thing bright in their little Crayole box of life. Naruto rolled his eyes, and then head butted his boyfriend lightly, causing the other to blink owlishly at him, obviously expecting a much more frightened reaction than the idiocy he was faced with. That was his Sasuke's weakness--stupidity. He couldn't deal with it. Naruto felt sure that his behavior was nothing but good for melting that ice pick that seemed permanently stuck up his--

"No fever," Naruto muttered. He couldn't detect even the faintest hint of temperature between their conjoined foreheads.

"Moron," Sasuke breathed. "I'm not sick." Either his thigh had been burned to such an extent that it had now gone numb, or he was too distracted by Naruto's doting to really mind it at the moment. The blond prayed for the latter.

"Well, something must be the matter."

"Yes. I can't feel my leg."

Oh. So it had gone numb.

"Wait…"

'kay.

"Is that what this stuff was about?" How rude. His tea wasn't stuff; it just required a very refined audience to truly enjoy it. "You fed me a choking hazard because you thought I was sick?"

No. It wasn't a choking hazard. But besides that… "Erm, yeah?"

Sasuke frowned lightly. Not an unpleased manner, not even in a mad manner. Just a gentle pull at the ends of his lips, and his eyes were drawn down and to the corner to stare a hole into the floor. You could tell he was repressing the urge to roll his eyes, or to scoff, or even to run an annoyed hand through his bangs.

Naruto recognized the look. He'd been given it a handful of times, enough to understand it for what it was. The man wasn't embarrassed or upset, he was… flattered, the blond surmised. There was no other way to describe it.

He'd seen it first a couple years ago, when Naruto had shown up on his doorstep, drench down to the bone with heavy melting snow, teeth chattering and a bag from CVS clutched in one frozen hand.

_"F-fucking bastard_," he'd managed to grit out through chattering teeth. _"D-don't know h-ho-h-how t-t-to take c-care of yours-self!"_

That had been winters ago. Their usual haunt was Naruto's rented home atop the adult book store his godfather owned, or the park just outside their school. Naruto had only briefly glimpsed inside Sasuke's apartment when he went to meet the boy for movies or for one of their other friend's parties. Never to go in.

And the raven had abruptly slammed the door shut in his face.

Naruto had blinked, sullenly, and looked down at the bag in his hand full of a bottle of Flintstones chewable vitamins, a bottle of Vick's vapor rub, a box of Kleenex, hand sanitizer, Robatussin, Campbell's chicken noodle soup, and Aleve.

And the bastard had locked him out.

"Oi!" he shouted, slamming his fist against the door. "Let me in! I just got you all this shit from the drug store!"

"Leave it outside the door," Sasuke had croaked from the other side of the threshold. "I'm sick, you moron. You're gonna get sick too. I'm not letting you in."

"Dude, I've been out in a fucking storm for half an hour to bring your emo ass some fucking medicine! If I'm not sick by now--"

"Go away."

"No! Let me in!"

"No."

"C'mon, I'm cold, bastard!"

"Then go home."

"Not before you let me in!"

The door slid open a crack and a bloodshot, watery black eye glared at him. Not glared, really. But with that aforementioned look, appraising the situation as someone would test the water to see how cold it was.

"What do you want, usuratonkachi?" he grunted.

"To take care of you, idiot." He'd held the bag up with one hand and pushed the door back a bit to shove himself inside. He ignored the black stare boring into the bridge of his nose. "Now where's your kitchen? I brought you some soup…"

He'd been met with the full look, which lasted only a brief moment before he turned around, trudging to what presumably was the kitchen, a half-hearted, "_Retard_," thrown over his shoulder. The battle lost, for the moment.

Naruto played witness to that half-flatter, fully-uncomfortable look several more times that afternoon, and Naruto just pushed more tissues at him, usually with, "Don't sneeze on me, you sicko."

Not that is mattered. Naruto was sick the very next morning.

Now Sasuke just sighed a few moments later, giving in to the urge to roll his eyes before meeting Naruto's wide blue ones. "I'm fine," he repeated firmly. "Really, I'm not sick."

"Yeah, yeah." Although Naruto was now convinced of this, it was best not to lose face after being caught red-handed as being the doting boyfriend. "I dunno. You still look a little sick to me."

Sasuke snorted, the mood broken. "I told you; I'm not the mentally hand-capped one around here."

"So this is what I get for looking after you, huh?"

"I don't need looking after," Sasuke said coolly. He then surveyed the mess on his lap. "Although I could use some help cleaning this up… It really does burn." He gestured to the cooling tea dregs on his right pant leg.

Naruto snorted. "Fine. I'll go and get some paper towels." But when he moved to stand up, Sasuke reached out and firmly grasped his shoulder, holding him down. "Wha--"

Sasuke smirked lightly. And there went Naruto's stomach; straight to the floor. He recognized _that _look, too.

"I never told you to clean it up with a towel."

A long pause, a leering look, and understanding lit up the smaller man's features.

"No way. You're shitting me."

A throaty chuckle, and shifting as Sasuke scooted himself to the edge of the seat. "C'mon…"

"No. Nuh-uh. That's just weird, man."

"You owe me. Clean up this mess."

"No. _No! _What are you--HEY! No, that's not even fair! I did _not _spill tea on your _dick!_"

_Ziiip._

"Yes, you did. It's burning pretty badly, really."

"Gah, you suck at innuendo! Let me the fuck go!"

"Heh."

"_Bastard!_"

* * *

"I'm sticky."

"Nnh."

The rasping of sweaty skin across tabletop.

"The counter's cold, ya know."

"Mmh."

"And you're kind heavy."

A long, contented sigh, and a face burying into the crook of his neck from behind, hands tightening on the wrists he had pinned to the counter.

"And that's really… uncomfortable, when we're not doing it."

Sasuke shifted and Naruto bit his lip. A low, breathy chuckle. "You don't seem to mind."

"Well I do."

"Really."

"Really. Now take it out."

"Hn. No, I don't think I will."

"What? Why!?"

"Who said I was done?"

"You fucking pervert!" A brief struggle, rather fruitless seeing as he did his best not to so much as shift his hips. "And I was only supposed to 'clean up the tea', remember?" he added as an afterthought. "That doesn't give you permission to fuck me into the table!"

"And you didn't an excellent clean up job. Very thorough. I should spill tea on myself more often."

"…on yourself? Wait…"

"And it isn't a table."

"Wait, go back to what you said before."

"Hm. Shall we retire to the bedroom then, dobe?"

"_What did you say before!?_"

A slick, wet sliding sound. Naruto slammed his sweaty forehead back onto the counter and groaned. "Jesus, warn me before you do that…."

"No. I think I like surprising you."

"We'll you've surprised me enough today to qualify me for a coronary."

"You probably don't even know what a coronary is."

"I do tooooaangh… Ahh…"

_Lick._

"Ready to go to our room?"

"Nngh…"

"That's what I thought."

"You've w-won this time you-nnnaah…"

"Tch. Dobe. I always win."

"Not a-always…"

A pull, a short groan, and Sasuke maneuvered them both backwards.

"Can you make it to the bed?" the raven whispered. "The stairs could probably make for some kinky sex."

"Ugh, you pervert, just get us upstairs. _Now._"

"Yes, sir."

"Heh, I like that."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, and bent down to kiss him deeply on the mouth. Naruto tilted his head to the side and allowed access to the tongue probing along the seam of his lips. For now, and at least for the next few hours, they couldn't remain blissfully ignorant of their observer.

For now, they had a together.

* * *

Some time during the night, Sasuke had rolled away from him. The Indian Summer's relentless heat choked the breath right out of their throats, everything humid, wet and sticky. As the end to the heat grew closer, the fog of moisture of warmth ascended to alarming temperatures. But the end was in sight. For now, though, swimming in sweat as they were, and until they could unbury the air conditioner from its packaging of protective bubble wrap and ten layers of duct tape, they slept apart.

Apart, but together, only an arm's reach away from each other.

What a monumental ruin it was to their night that neither noticed a third party.

As Sasuke slept, Uchiha Sasuke sat on the edge of the bed, gliding his frozen fingers through warm golden hair, looking down at the sleeping Naruto with fondness, warmth bubbling from his vivid red irises. He leaned back on one open hand, tilted his head to have better access to the view he'd waited centuries to see. He ignored the other Sasuke completely. It was a technicality, he knew, one tiny blemish in his newly found destiny.

It could easily be taken care of.

But for now, he drank in the sight with the utmost pleasure.

"Naruto," Sasuke whispered into the night, a dim smile lighting his pale full lips. "Love. I've found you."


	2. Breathe Deeply

When Naruto woke up, he knew he wasn't in the right place.

The unsettling atmosphere felt too real to be played off as a dream. The wind didn't smell quite right. It was too clean, too cool. The linens were new, paper-thin. The same color as his… just not _his. _They smelled of starch and plastic, not the combination of musk and whatever spice was used to scent Sasuke's shampoo.

Naruto squeezed his eyes shut, and then reopened them. The ceiling was white, the surrounded walls a light beige, just like his. In the air, he caught a whiff of fresh paint, as if the room had been refurbished only days prior. There was still an oak desk by the window on his right, with the matching bedside table right by the mattress. The lamp on top of it looked the same, but Naruto felt sure that if he were to open the cabinet drawer, he would find it to be terrifyingly barren.

He heard a tapping noise, and he turned his eyes to his lover. His naked back shown smooth and white as alabaster in the dim light of the moon hanging outside their window (why was the moon there it was never there their house was at an angle they could never see it from their window why was the moon there right _there_), and his shoulders were hunched as he fiddled with something in his hands. Naruto guessed it to be their alarm clock, judging from the wire descending down to the wall.

But something was off here, too.

His back and shoulders were the same. From countless nights of heated-lovemaking, both in the dark and in the light, Naruto could easily map out in intricate detail the entire plane of Sasuke's body. He knew where each muscle was, where each dip and curve was, where every scar marked his skin, where his bones moved when he shifted, he knew everything. And that seemed to be the same.

Some years ago, Sasuke had had his hair long. It stuck up stiffly in the back, but he was able to bundle it into a small pony tail when he wanted. That was how his hair was now. His bangs and spikes pulled into a tiny tail at the nape of his neck, and it couldn't have been more than two inches long. But it hadn't been long enough to do that in years, so why…?

Sasuke set down the alarm clock and finally turned to face him. His bangs hung the same way; a bit fuller to the right, shading one eye partially. The eyebrows were still thin, still finely arched. His jaw and cheekbones were the same, although his chin was slightly narrower than he'd remembered it to be. And his nose was perhaps a centimeter too long to be right. The widow's peak on his forehead descended down a bit too low to serve his memory correctly. The way he leaned on his arm as they locked eyes was wrong, too. He leaned backward, chest arching, instead of hunching forehead, like his Sasuke did.

His Sasuke.

And all of a sudden, they were two different people.

Then Naruto noticed the obvious.

Sasuke's eyes were a dark gray, so dark, in fact, that they were nearly black. This man's eyes were brown. A bright, vivid brown that looked so odd in his face. So bright, in fact, that they seemed almost burgundy. Tiny flecks of a darker brown dotted the irises, condensing into clumps and forming eyes Naruto had only seen achieved through the use of costume contact lenses. The eyeballs were set in between lids that were too narrow to be his Sasuke's. And below the too-long nose was a mouth belonging to too-full lips. Not unattractive, but unfamiliar. A darker shade than his Sasuke's lips.

But the mouth was set into an all-too-familiar smirk that he wanted to rip off for a completely different reason than normal.

Now, in this strange and familiar face, it was frightening. He was cold, he realized, and the horrible imitation of his bed offered to solstice, leaving him open for this monster.

The second Sasuke smiled. And in a deep, throaty voice that was just a shade too baritone, he murmured, "Awake at last, usuratonkachi?"

Naruto couldn't help it. He began to scream.

--

Sasuke was in the bathroom when he heard Naruto thrashing, and felt no guilt in being glad he wasn't there. From the first day they'd shared a bed to present, Naruto had the tendency to kick and punch in his sleep, and they left ugly purple blemishes across his legs. Best not to disturb that.

Figuring he'd wake the other man when he got out of the bathroom, Sasuke went about his business. He was just rinsing the suds off of his hands when he heard screams. He paused, hands half-way to the spicket, and listened for a fraction of a moment, staring into his own pair of eyes in the mirror. Then he heard another scream and, leaving the water running, he was gone in a split second and running towards the bed.

He landed softly on his knees by his boyfriend, hands leaving sudsy trails on the sheets, but he didn't care. Because Naruto looked and sounded like he was being murdered, and was kicking and flailing at the enemy only he could see. One misaimed kick landed and dug into Sasuke's hipbone, causing the larger boy to grunt and he allowed himself to be pushed back some distance before he swiveled and dove down at an angle to pin the man's hands to the mattress.

"Dobe!" he shouted, eyes angry and dark with poorly concealed concern. "Wake up! Naruto, you're just dreaming, wake--"

"Sasuke!" he shouted beneath him, and for a split second, Sasuke thought he'd gotten confused and that they were in an entirely different situation. The volume at which he'd screamed his name was very reminiscent of-- Sasuke shook his head, and instead thought of how worrying it was that the two sounded so similar.

Then blue eyes snapped open, live like an electrical current, blazing in the darkness with the power of a high beam and effectively blinding him. Naruto's eyes were so wide, practically bulging, and the irises quivered as if his eyes didn't know which way to turn. Whether to the shadowed corners of the room, the odd glow emitting from the open door of the bathroom, or to stay trained on Sasuke's face, which he was now looking at as if it belonged to a man he'd just seen slaughter an entire town.

One of Naruto's hands wrenched from Sasuke's vice-like grip, and the older man made the mistake of not keeping track of it, distracted as he was by the brazen look he was receiving. He was only distracted by it when that hand formed a fist and all of a sudden slammed into the side of his head.

"FUCK!" Sasuke cried as he toppled over the side of the bed, hands gripping the side of his head. He teeth clicked shut upon impact, and although his shoulder took the brunt of the fall, a high-pitched ringing began in his head as his jaw bone ached. He groaned and tried to move, but his legs were now tangled within the sheets and he found himself stuck at an awkward, top-heavy position on the floor. Hs view of the ceiling spun to and fro, popping in and out of reality, until a spot of gold appeared.

"Sasuke?" was the uncharacteristically meager sounded the blob gave, growing more defined by the second. Sasuke could make out a silhouette of spiky hair now, and shadows outlined the contours of a worrier, scarred face. "Sasuke, is that you?"

"Yes," Sasuke gritted. "And you…" he hissed as he shifted and the side of the hand cradling his head brushed the floor causing a spike of pain to flare up at the pressure, "are the most retarded moron I've ever had the misfortune of getting attached to."

"Sasuke!" Where he'd expected an insult, he got instead an armful of heavy blond, the weight jettisoning his head once more into the ground.

"Ouch!" Sasuke's legs flailed as he struggled to find purchase, hands weakly shoving at his boyfriends to try to alleviate the pressure. "That hurts, get off!"

"Sasuke!" Naruto murmured, head burrowed into his neck, hot breath steaming over the skin there and causing his arms to break out into goosebumps. Sasuke struggle to lift his head, which had suddenly been filled with hot brick. "Sasuke, Sasuke…."

"Dobe," Sasuke snorted. Giving up, he turned his head and laid it flat on the ground, hands now running soothing circles over the moron's shoulder blades and the small of his back in an effort to calm him down. He felt a wetness on his neck, but couldn't decide if Naruto was crying or just sweating as he rode out the after tremors of a night terror. Either way, Sasuke wound his arms around the quivering form and held him closely, whispering silent, unconnected words into his ear, almost humming. It was awkward, and the blood was rushing to all the wrong places, and Naruto's straddling him caused an uncomfortable weight to press down into his pelvic area and lower stomach. Like a shaking mountain the blond's muscled back continued to shake, and sweat started to bead up where their skin connected.

Eventually Naruto's breath evened out, and just when Sasuke began to fear that he'd fallen asleep, a groggy voice croaked, "How's your head?"

Sasuke snorted softly. "Feels like someone sucker punched it." A breathy chuckle, and when that died away, Sasuke noted that he could still hear the rush of water from the bathroom. "Our water bill's going to shoot through the roof if I don't turn that off…" An off-handed way, he thought, of communicating to his lover that he could no longer feel the lower half of his body and that he'd truly appreciate it if the blond lifted himself off of him.

Naruto, bless him, took the hint and drew back to his knees, peeling his face away from Sasuke's neck. They stared at each other for a long moment, Sasuke with a bland face and confused eyes, Naruto with a frown and dark blue eyes staring through red, puffed skin that was dotted with perspiration.

"…I'll go get some ice," Naruto murmured belatedly, standing up and getting off Sasuke. He paused, as if unsure whether or not to lend a hand, before padding out of the room. When the raven heard slow footstep retreat down the steps, he sighed and began the complicated process of kicking his legs out of the knotted bed linens. Once freed, he clenched his teeth and slowly sat up, crossing his legs and waited. Once the room stopped spinning, he stood, instantly feeling a strong sense of vertigo. He gingerly pressed cool fingertips to his ear and instantly drew them back with a wince. Resigning himself to what would escalate into an excruciating headache, he made his way back into the bathroom. He ran his hands under the still-running faucet before turning the water off, then running his damp hands over his face. His skin felt feverish, even to himself, but when he looked into the mirror, all he saw was a pale face with dark gray eyes staring back at him.

He was drying his hands on the cloth of his dorm pants when he hood footsteps, this time ascending the stairs. He looked into his eyes one more time, noticing how tired they looked, before flicking off the light and walking back into the bedroom where he was met with a guilty Naruto and an ice pack.

Sasuke silently sat on the bed and allowed Naruto to swing one leg up to the mattress, letting the other prop itself on the floor, half-turned towards him and brushing black bangs away from his ear. Sasuke kept himself quiet as the initial impact of the ice brought back the astounding pain, the gentle application becoming slightly harder as the area began to numb. Sasuke's hand drew up to take over, and Naruto's hand slipped form beneath his as he held the pack up on his own. Naruto's fingers, instead, trailed through the limp spikes at the back of his head, working through the knots until the hair ran smooth and straight. They shared a few more minutes of companionable silence until Sasuke changed hands, the fingers on one beginning to go numb, and once he had, he asked, "What were you dreaming about?"

"Hm?" was the nonchalant response. Sasuke's eyes snapped to the side and he caught Naruto staring blankly at their digital alarm clock, hands still brushing through his hair like clockwork. 12:12. No, the raven realized, he was simply staring at Sasuke's pillow, boring holes into it liked it'd done him a great wrong. Or like he was looking for something he knew was there, merely hidden out of sight…

"I said," the raven spoke crisply, causing Naruto's attention to swerve back to him, "what were you dreaming that threw you into a fit." Naruto's hand paused, then slid out and flopped onto the bed between them. Like a natural reflex Sasuke has covered it with his own, running the rough pad of his thumb over the top of his wrist. The blond looked to be debating his options in his head. What the options were, Sasuke didn't know. To brush it off, to lie, to even tell the truth.

A sudden smile lit Naruto's face. "Nothing important, really. Just a nightmare."

The first option then.

"You could have given me a concussion," Sasuke said blandly, pointedly shifting the ice pack to better cover the side of his head.

Naruto sorted. "You're such a woman. You're fine. C'mon, I know you can take a hit…."

"I don't care," Sasuke snapped, then sealed his mouth shut, eyes narrowing. When he spoke again, it was in a much calmer tone. "I just want an answer, Naruto. If you're not giving me one, it has to be something important. And if it is…."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "It really wasn't a big deal. Don't know why I was freaking out about it."

"If it wasn't a big deal, then you should have no qualm telling me, hm?"

Naruto bit his lower lip, caught. He stared into Sasuke's eyes, the color of rich, dark smoke, devoid of any red glare or unnerving speckles that swerved and grouped to form three coma-like shapes around the pupil. With his short hair, his slight Widow's Peak, his thin lips…

"It was weird…" Naruto whispered. "I… felt like I was here. In this room, you know. But it wasn't. It was different. It was the same, but like… it was in a different house. The walls were the same, the bed was the same. But it was all brand new, kind of like when we first filled this place." He gestured around himself at this, propping himself up on the arm struck behind him. Sasuke slid the ice pack off of his head and tossed it behind him. His ear and head throbbed gently, the rush of blood as seemingly as loud as Naruto's voice, but he felt like a fool holding it up for so long. "And you were there, too. But you were different too." a wrinkle crinkled the skin between his eyebrows and his lips puckered a bit as he thought. "I can't really remember… heh, I'm forgetting already… you were the same, but you were different, too. You…. Looked different, I guess. Just little things. And…"

"And?" Sasuke prompted when Naruto trailed off.

Naruto shrugged. "You heard what happened next."

They were silent. They stared at everything but each other for a few awkward minutes. Naruto lost in the remnants of his dream, Sasuke lost in his suspicions as to what had caused it. Absent-mindedly, Naruto's hand drew up and began to stroke along the nape of Sasuke's neck, fingering the feather-soft tufts of hair there. Sasuke's hand cupped his bare knee before sliding up and into the cloth of his boxers, not in a sexual way, but to stroke the inside of his thigh, and intimate gesture of comfort. Somehow, Naruto's hand felt more intimate than Sasuke's gestures, so close to his face, close enough to smell, close enough that he could turn his face and kiss gently along the inside of his wrist. And he did. Once, twice, three times, chase kisses, dry lips along soft skin. Then open mouthed, once, twice, three times, until he was tracing the veins beneath his skin with his tongue, mouthing words against the damp flesh, feeling empowered beyond all belief when Naruto's breath caught in his throat and then gentle hand was fisting into his hair, pulling him back and up and forwards and _oh--_

It was a slow, deep affair with which they moved, clothes tangled about a stray ankle or caught beneath a pillow. Sheets warmed and stuck to their skin, the sound of flesh on flesh matching the volume of their mouths as tongues danced in each other's mouths, hands gripping onto backs and heads of hair that wasn't their own. Nails scraping, gently, before the butts of palms massaged the small of the back. Legs spread, deeper, beating, pulling, _pushing _deeper until they finished without a word or cry, noises caught in their throats and let out in one large, dry huff of air and the complete collapse of limbs, relaxing even further, into a sweating mess.

Breathing having evened out, they cocooned each other. The heated caused rivulets of sweat to continue to stream between them, but neither cared enough to break apart. Naruto fingered the dip in Sasuke's collarbone, feeling the bone there and the way it beat beneath his fingertips. Sasuke shifted his leg into a more comfortable position between Naruto's thighs, trailing bizarre patterns across the skin he found between jutting shoulder blades, every now and then gently swatting at a furry face that rubbed an insistent, cold nose against his knuckles, praying for attention.

"Go 'way, Kage," Naruto murmured, not bothering to look around to confirm that the cat was really there. "When'd you get here?"

"He crept in a few minutes ago," Sasuke replied, losing the battle with the orange-furred menace and continuing to stroke his lover's back.

"Hm. You let him in earlier?"

"Yeah."

A heavy yawn. "Tha's good…"

The blond's breath began to fan across his chest more evenly as unconscious beckoned to him with a seductive finger. Curled up together, no sheets but the thin layer of sweat, it was comfortable. He could sleep, sleep like this and not wake up and he'd be just fine. Who said they had to leave the bed?

"Your dream…."

Or maybe he would, if only for the sake of avoiding the question.

"It was a nightmare," Naruto insisted. "Just some stupid nightmare. Nothing to flip out about."

"You hit me hard enough to make me feel like the entire East coast boar down on me."

"Then maybe you should dodge it, next time."

Sasuke snorted, and let the subject drop. Or so Naruto thought. After another minute, he asked, "It's not because of… in two weeks, is it?"

Naruto rolled his eyes, although the raven could not see. "Please," the blond muttered. "Trust me. I can survive just fine on my own for a few days."

"Eighteen days…"

Naruto shrugged. "Wouldn't matter if it was eighteen days of eighteen weeks. I can take care of myself, bastard."

Sasuke frowned gently. "Japan is so far away… You know I won't be able to get back here if something happens."

"I know that," Naruto replied, shifting his head so it fit into a more comfortable position on Sasuke's bear shoulder. "I told you a million times that it was fine with me. Stop worrying so much."

Kage butted his head against Sasuke's hand, which was now pressed flat against Naruto's back, and giving up, jumped off the bed and padded out. Sasuke watched its progress as it batted at the door, heard the door creak, and watched the feline slink from the room with an aura of one having been greatly offended.

"I'll be fine," Naruto whispered. "You're the one who wanted to go on this trip in the first place, remember?"

"I remember," Sasuke replied. "I'm just not sure…"

"I told you, I'll be fi--"

"…if I'll be okay."

Naruto froze. The pale chest, so strong and real, close enough to taste on his tongue, breath rippling and expanding his lungs so the skin moved millimeters towards his face before retreating. It was so real, and Naruto realized that he couldn't imagine not having t so close to him. Couldn't imagine t being gone for any period of time.

"Go to sleep, idiot," Naruto whispered. "We're both tired…. We'll talk about it in the morning."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, knowing that they wouldn't. Naruto was too stubborn, and he too reluctant to start spilling his guts. Instead, he simply tightened his arms around the smaller man, hoping body language could fill in the void where his words had so obviously left gaping wide and open.

Fearing that they wouldn't.

--

"Naruto, where are my keys?"

"Your car keys?"

"Why in God's name would I need those? Shino's picking me up."

"Well sorry! I don't know what goes on in your fucking head! I thought Princess Perfect had everything packed and ready AGES ago!"

"Well I would have if someone hadn't jumped on me when--"

"Hey, hey, _hey_! That was your fault! You didn't have a god damned shirt on, what the fuck else was I supposed to think!?"

"I didn't have a _shirt _on because I was _hot_, dobe."

"Hot? _Hot? _Sasuke, it's sixty degrees out, you wimp! That's not hot, it's AUTUMN!"

The two ran about bickering like an old married couple, and had been doing so for the past hour or so, Naruto with a slice of toast with orange marmalade in his mouth, Sasuke with one sock on and his shirt completely unbuttoned and his hair ungelled, leaving it askew and odd-looking at the back of his head.

"Where's my hair gel?"

"Oh, I dunno. Probably with your _fuck_ing keys!"

"Your attitude it completely unnecessary right now. Shino's going to be here in an hour and--"

"Yeah, well, your face is unnecessary."

"I don't even know what that _means_!"

"GRAH!"

Naruto stormed into the kitchen and started throwing open cabinets, shifting boxes around and peering behind them before moving on to the next shelf. Sasuke rolled his eyes before feeling the need to as, eloquently, what the fuck he was doing.

"I'm looking for your damned keys," Naruto hissed. "Since I OBVIUSLY won't be waiting for you at the airport to pick you up and you'll DEFINETLY need them half-way around the world."

"I doubt they'd be in the cabinets," Sasuke muttered petulantly, ignoring the sarcastic barb. Naruto snorted and continued his search. It was then that the raven noticed a bulky looking lump obtruding from the back right pocket of his lover's jeans. "Oi…" And those weren't Naruto's jeans, either. These were a deep navy blue with yellow stitching. "Those are my pants."

"Eh?" Naruto muttered absent-mindedly, in the process of shifting aside packets of ramen. He spilt several of them and gave a startled yelp when Sasuke's hand slipped into the general vicinity of his rear. "Get your hand out of there!"

"And these are my keys!" Sasuke snapped, holding them up and dangling them from one finger. "Damnit, Naruto, what did I tell you about wearing my clothes!?"

"But they're comfortable!" Naruto whined, and Sasuke was displeased to find not a single hint of remorse on his boyfriend's face for the epic goose chase he'd been put through the entire morning.

"Well yours would be comfortable, too, if you'd just use those dryer sheets I bought."

"Ew, those Snuggles things? I'm not that gay! They smell like girly flowers…"

"The smell wears off and they make your clothes feel soft. Which is why you use them. Look at you, you can barely walk in those."

"Well sorry that I'm not feminine enough to go out of my way just to make my clothes smell Bounty fresh!"

"Me? Feminine? Dobe, you're the one _wearing your boyfriend's clothes_!"

"Better to be feminine then a frigid dick like you!"

"So you're admitting you're feminine, then?"

"Wh--n--no… Why are we fighting in your last hour of being here!?"

"You started it?"

"Way to act your age, bastard! Be the bigger man here, for once!"

"I am! Every day! My medical charts say so."

And like so often, Naruto's hands curled into two tights balls of fist. He glared, cobalt eyes like blue flames, hackles rising in preparation for a fight. Sasuke's eyes narrowed, and then, with a huff, he shoved the keys into his pocket, spun on his heel, and walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. Naruto blinked after him, fingers relaxing from their tenses state and shoulder slumping downwards. He felt almost disappointed at the man for not rising to the bat. But then again…. He looked down at himself, and the way the pants pooled around his feet. They really were too big, he thought bitterly. Then, with one swift movement, he'd unbuttoned them and they fell to the floor in one smooth movement. He stepped out, kicking his legs to free his ankles from the denim, before padding off to find his boyfriend in nothing but his orange boxers.

Sasuke rose an eyebrow, but said nothing, when Naruto was back and sitting cross-legged in front of him on the couch. In the corner of his mind he was conducting a mental checklist. His suitcase was packed and organized, his carry-on duffel propped against the wall next to it. His cell phone and keys were safely tucked away into his pockets, Shino had their plane tickets, his college professor had the rest of the necessary documents that they'd need once they'd reached Tokyo. His passport and wallet were tucked away in the flap of his duffel bag, he'd brought his tooth brush, tooth paste, an extra thing of deodorant if one were to get lost, plenty of socks, extra shoes, and here he felt like he was leaving the most essential thing out of the packaging deal.

Because his moron was pouting, arms crossed over his chest, wearing an overly large hoodie with the name of their university printed across it in bold blue letters, and not much else. His boyfriend, who was either trying to piss him off or turn him on, or perhaps a combination of the two. His lover, who's eyebrows were furrowed again like they had the tendency of doing when he thought too hard…

Sasuke tilted himself to face Naruto better, sighed, and spread his arms so that his hands were palm-up on his knees. When the blond just stared at him, Sasuke grunted at him and lifted an arm expectantly. When Naruto still refused to move, he rolled his eyes and, resigned to being the "bigger man for once", reached over and firmly grasped Naruto's by the upper arms. The blond was pliant enough, and he turned him around so that he could sit comfortably between his spread legs. Naruto sighed one last time before tilting his head back to rest his face against the side of Sasuke's neck, head propped comfortably again a pale shoulder.

"Do you wanna turn on the TV?" Sasuke asked, argument already behind, left with the dirty dishes in the kitchen. Naruto grunted in the negative, so they simply lay there. The air was cool now, and the light flowing in from the living room window was warm against their skin and clothes. The soft feel of denim against his calves, and the slightly scratchy feel of the sweater on his forearms, was comforting, filled with the scent he was trying so hard to memorize before it was gone for the next few weeks. Sasuke simply relaxed in his reclined position, enjoying the comfortable warm weight on his chest. They should move, he knew, because it would take them at least half an hour to say good-bye. But his bags were packed, he was all ready, the had nothing else to do. Naruto obviously had no intention of going into classes until later in the afternoon, if at all, and they wouldn't see each other in so long. Talking would ruin the moment. Eating would eat away at their time. Making out on the couch or beneath the freshly laundered sheets was a waste of time, and simply not close enough.

He risked a glance at the clock. 10:19. Where had all of his precious, precious time gone to? It slipped through his fingers like water, and Shino was nothing if not notoriously early…

The raven resigned himself to just listening to the blond's even breathing, enjoying the scent and feel of stolen warmth. Half an hour. Just half an hour… The thought formed a mantra in his head, and all he could do was associate each breath with how many seconds it took. The older man found himself transfixed with it, listening more carefully, stroking fingers along skin as smooth and fine as gold.

He'd looked forward to this trip for so long, he thought. For half a year, actually. The chance to explore and learn the history of the country his parents had originated from. To see the lights, the shrines, the deep tradition that were practically tangible in some areas…

But now, all he wanted was for the trip to be over and done with. For the very first time, he didn't want to go. He wanted to lock the door and pretend he wasn't home when Shino came knocking n ten minutes. He wanted to stay like this on the couch for the rest of the day, doing nothing and enjoying everything. Having that blissful silence no one believed two people as stubborn as themselves could share.

And most of all, he was afraid. Sasuke, for some irrational reason, could practically taste the bitterness of something dark, something changed. Like what he was leaving now would not be the same when he came back, Or, worse yet, not be there at all. Did that make sense, he wondered, to feel this way? Because they hadn't been separated for any long expanse of time, was this like letting go? Would he get used to it, or would it ruin the whole trip? Was it worth it to throw away thousands of dollars and hours of planning to stay home?

_Yes, _his mind hissed at him. _Yes, it is. Stay home. He'd be happy. He'd put up a fight, but you'd both be so happy. Just lazing around for three weeks, nothing else but each other and a quiet house._

_No, _the more rational part of Sasuke's mind argued. _He'd never forgive me. He wants me to go, too. If he found out you cancelled for his sake, he'd be… he'd be…._

**Knock knock**

_…so sad._

--

"You have everything?"

"For the last time, dobe, yes. It's all packed. I checked everything."

"Your phone, your wallet, your _keys_?'

"_Yes_."

"You'll call when you land?"

"As soon as the wheels hit the ground."

Naruto's hands rose, sunk back down, and then rose back up with twice the speed and tweaked the hood of his lover's jacket so that it was no longer caught up in the strap of his bag.

"You have everything?"

"Almost everything."

"Wha--" Then Sasuke's head had swooped down and effectively swallowed his words. Lips that as familiar to him as air was to his lungs met his hungrily, moving, roving, memorizing the shape and feel like they'd forgotten. Naruto's hand lifted to twist into black locks, and then the other hand followed suit. Sasuke's had shifted the bag until it slipped off his shoulder and slumped to the ground, using both free arms to ensnare his waist, pulling him as close as possible without hurting. And even then, it did ache, their chests too compressed and arms and hands too tight. There was a furious fervor that escalated and grew before tongues were diving into each other's mouths, meeting and leaving each other to be replaced by sharp nicks of teeth, before they molded together again. Naruto twisted his head to the side, and up, to reach a better angle, to achieve more friction, to catch Sasuke in a trap that would root him to the ground and prevent him from leaving.

Something bitter was n the air, and it made him uneasy. Like when Sasuke returned, he would be different. Or Naruto would be different. They would be two different people, two pieces that no longer fit together like they used to.

So Naruto pressed closer, could feel his lungs constrict form lack of oxygen, could feel it in the way Sasuke inhaled sharply when he had the chance, but did not care, because this was the last--

Shino honked the horned once, and they broke apart. Not bothering to meet the level gaze of the man behind the steering wheel, they stood panting and waiting for their breathing to catch up with them. Wordlessly, Sasuke drew back and picked up the strap of his bag before swinging it over his shoulder one more time.

Sasuke smirked softly. "I don't think that's how good-bye's are supposed to go?"

Naruto chuckled. "Too much tongue?" Onyx eyes gleamed with concealed amusement. "Wanna try again?"

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow, and threw a quick glance over his shoulder. "One more time?"

Naruto grinned. "Yeah. Just to get it right. Shino can wait another five seconds."

The small tilt of the lip was gone, and Sasuke was merely staring at him now. Appreciative eyes roamed his face, and only his face, before a hand reached up to cup his cheek. Naruto cocked his head at an angle, a thumb brushed over one long scar, and without either of them closing their eyes they kissed once more. Slowly, just a brush of lips cupping lips, slightly moist and entirely warm. When Sasuke drew back, Naruto fought back the ferocious urge to beg for another. A second one, just one more. One more and he'd have enough to last him for eternity…

"I'll be back soon," Sasuke promised gently. The hand reached down and brushed along his neck. Naruto's hand reached up, squeezed it closer to the palm rested by his pulse point, and then let go.

"I love you," Naruto stuttered out, slightly rushed, slightly bothered by the abruptness of his words. He receive in turn a smile, not a smirk, but the curving of his mouth and the crinkles at the corners of his eyes that Naruto rarely got to see.

"I love you too," he whispered.

And Sasuke was gone, jogging down to the car, swinging his bag into the backseat and climbing into the passengers seat. And before the door shut…

With one last, gentle smile, one that could last him, as Naruto thought it would, for eternity.

And the car with Sasuke drove far away.

--

Naruto slid his should bag off of his shoulder and into the side passenger door before slamming it closed and circling around the front of the vehicle to climb in behind the wheel. He slumped his head back against the seat and let his eyes rolls towards the roof, his hands blindly groping along the dashboard until his key slid into the ignition, although he did not turn it. The fifteen-minute walk from Thomas, the main building for sciences, was long and grueling, crawling over the tops of cobblestone hills and down beaten-down tracks of grass. The campus was fairly quiet this time of day on Friday evenings. Most students scheduled classes to have off on Fridays, in order to have themselves a three-day weekend. Naruto made sure to have every Tuesday off, as did Sasuke, so if they ever felt the urge to go out somewhere, that somewhere would be almost completely theirs.

_Sasuke…_

_I should have taken that second kiss, _Naruto thought bitterly. He wouldn't be getting another for weeks. A move pure of stupidity on his part. He ignored the voice in his head telling him that he then should have taken a third, then a fourth, then skipped the foreplay and locked the door so Sasuke wouldn't leave at all.

It sounded difficult to believe, but ever since they had met, they'd hadn't gone without seeing each other for more than a few days at a time, and Naruto could count those rare occasions on one hand. And now, facing an entire two and a half weeks alone. The house all to himself, no one hogging the bathroom, left to eat whatever he wanted, sleep whenever he wanted, throw his clothes anywhere and not care about who it would piss off….

Just the thought of it made him want to curl into a ball under the covers and wait for Sasuke's return.

Naruto jumped as something began to abruptly vibrate against his leg, snapping him out of his depressing reverie. His hand jolted in thin air for a moment before diving into his pocket. He twisted his body more to the left to free up the cramped space to pull out his cell phone, and nestled back into his seat as he stared dumbly at the screen.

_Sasuke? _he thought. _How can he be calling? Shouldn't he be a couple thousand feet up in the air by now? _Nevertheless, he flipped it open and pressed it to his ear eagerly brows slightly furrowed.

"Your plane can't have landed yet," Naruto greeted in a teasing tone. He flexed his fingers over the leather material of the steering wheel, noting how warm it felt, and soft.

He heard a rare chuckle over the phone. And then a voice. _"How would you know? You have never kept up with the latest advances in airplane engineering, last time I checked."_

Just like that the tension from his shoulders were gone. The seat turned soft instead of feeling like stone, and he was able to appreciate the sunset from the view behind his dashboard. Although he'd heard his voice this morning, knowing that he wouldn't hear it clearly again for over two weeks made it seem all new now. It almost seemed different, like he'd aged. Naruto didn't like the cell phones garbled version of his lover's voice. It sounded too rough, too distorted, but he'd take what he could get.

Naruto rolled his eyes now, drumming his fingers now instead of making little, feathery stroke over the pebbled material. "Yeah, yeah. Where are you then? Layover?"

A snort. Naruto could hear airport traffic bustling in the background, mingling with his boyfriend's words. It all blended into a dull roar, and a voice was speaking over the intercom, although he wasn't able to decipher what it was saying. Something about the food court. _"No. I wish," _Sasuke said into the phone.

"Wait… are you even in Texas?" Naruto frowned and looked at the digital clock imbedded into the dashboard. 5:48. Sasuke's plane departed at four, so he should have at least been to Texas by now.

_"No, Naruto. I'm still at the airport in Denver."_

"What?" The blond straightened up in his seat now, clenching the phone more tightly and trying to think around the guilty pleasure of Sasuke not haven left yet. "Your flight got delayed?"

_"No. Apparently there was a bomb threat on one of the planes and they've shut the entire airport down."_

Naruto winced. "Ouch. Bet that'll be all over the news tonight."

_"Not if the police can help it." _There was a lapse, perhaps a loss of connection, in which there was only a gentle humming, and then, _"--will probably try to keep it quiet."_

"I'm sorry, what? The connection died."

_"I said the police are probably going to try to cover it up. There's nothing that'll get people's underwear in a bunch than a bomb threat in an airport."_

"Tch, yeah right. It'll be all over ABC and CNN tonight, you just wait."

_"Hmm," _Sasuke hummed, and there was a long pause. Naruto turned the key in the ignition so that he could open a window, and then killed the engine. The air was cooling off, and it felt good against his face. He switched the phone to his right ear so that he could prop his left arm along the door and lean his head against it.

"So… what're you doing now?"

_"Waiting for Shino to get out of the bathroom. Then he and I are going to try and find our luggage over in customs."_

"You're coming home?" Naruto asked, surprised. Sasuke had been looking forward to this trip for so long… Even though Sasuke barely said a word about it, he could see the anticipation that lit up his boyfriend's eyes whenever the topic was brought up. The few times he'd spoken of it, over steaming cups of morning coffee, on their afternoon commute back commute, in bed while they waited for the adrenaline in other veins to die down, he spoke with a fond look upon his face. But then again, Sasuke was never one for patience, either. Naruto couldn't see him camping out in the lobby with a plastic-like blanket and a rock hard pillow just to wait for a plane.

_"Might as well," _Sasuke replied. _"It doesn't look like things will be calming down any time soon."_

"Will they let you leave?" Naruto asked. "I mean, it's a bomb threat…"

_"They have no reason to keep us," _Sasuke replied evenly. _"I'll just have to reschedule my flight, and then I'll be back home."_

Feeling oddly disappointed in the fact that Sasuke would be leaving for Japan anyway, just belatedly, Naruto said, "Want to have a late dinner then? Or I can save you a cold platter or something, if you wanted."

Sasuke voice was soft as he replied, _"Nah. You'll probably be sleeping by the time I get home. You're such a light-weight," _he added teasingly.

"Oi, that word's for when it comes to alcohol. And I'm not one in either sense."

Sasuke scoffed. _"Sure." _A long pause. _"I should go. I see Shino coming. We're going to head over to reception and see about getting our luggage back."_

"You're sure this is okay?" Naruto asked. "Not sticking with the college group?"

_"Exactly, Naruto. College. Not high school. We don't all need to stick together. Shino and I will just meet them at the meeting spot in Tokyo when we land."_

"All right," the blond breathed. "I'll leave the door open?"

_"Lock it," _he said quickly. Then, _"I have a key, dead-last."_

"Bastard," Naruto retaliated. Another silence. Naruto wondered why he didn't hear Shino yet, and then remembered that a corpse spoke more than Shino. "I'll see you tonight, then?"

_"You can count on it," _Sasuke promised in a muffled murmur.

"I'll see you soon, then." Another pause. A soft smile. _He's coming home. It's selfish, I know, but I don't care. He's coming _home. "I love you, Sasuke."

_"Naruto…" _his voice murmured into the phone, gently crackling with what must have been the roar of people behind him.

"Hm?" Naruto prodded, but the line had already gone dead.

--

The turbulence of the plane knocked the two back and forth for a few moments before it flew steadily once more. Sasuke's grip on his can of coke grew less strenuous, and he brought it up to his lips to draw a long sip. Shino was calm beside him, idly flipping another page n his magazine, reading through his prescription lenses that never seemed to turn off from the outdoor setting, always tinted to a dark color. Truthfully, Sasuke suspected he'd ordered them that way. The guy seemed to take pride in whatever made him even more of an oddity.

The plane, although thrown into less-than-ideal conditions, managed to arrive on schedule, perhaps a few minutes after. Customs felt longer to get through than the actual flight, Sasuke mused, as he stepped through what had to be the tenth metal detector. He was once again asked to remove his belt, and after the third time this happened, Sasuke came to a realization. It hit him while he was standing outside the port reaching into his pocket with his bag at his side as he waited for Shino to make arrangements at the help desk for a taxi. It hit him as he remembered Naruto's whispered request to call as soon as the wheels hit the runway.

No one has asked him to remove his cell phone.

Feeling slightly guilty for having not remembered sooner, Sasuke stood his trunk up and reached a hand into his pocket for his cell phone. His fingertips dug through lint for a few prolonged seconds before he tried his other pocket. Nothing. Shit. Back pockets, nothing. Through his carry-on, in all the little flaps. And even though he hadn't touched his luggage since he'd packed it yesterday morning, he went through that, too.

He was just re-checking the outside compartments when Shino walked up behind him.

"Sasuke," he said. Just his name. He watched at the Uchiha ignored him completely, continuing to rifle through the contents of his bag. "I have called the taxi. What is it that you are looking for?"

"My cell," Sasuke muttered. "I think I might've left it somewhere."

"That is unfortunate," Shine replied monotonously, and when Sasuke looked up at him with a cool glare, said somewhat hastily, "You may borrow mine."

The raven sighed. "Thanks," he murmured, straightening and holding out a hand expectantly. Shino fished out his phone, a simple silver gadget that came free with a certain plan, and handed it over. Sasuke nodded his head in thanks and then wondered off a few feet, scrolling down through the contact list until he came to Naruto's name. Smiling slightly, he hit the green button and pressed it to his ear.

Seven rings later, and he got the pre-programmed message signaling for him to leave a message. Frowning, Sasuke searched his mind for time frames. What time was it here? What time was it there? Was he in class? He said he'd have it on him at all times, that he'd answer….

"Hey dobe," Sasuke murmured in the phone. He'd always felt awkward leaving messages. He preferred not to do it; why waste words on something that wouldn't waste words back at him? But Naruto was, like he was in many areas, an isolated occasion. "You're not answering your phone, so I'm just leaving a message." _Obviously, dumbass. You're just as moronic as he is. _"You know I hate long messages, so…. Call when you get it, okay? The message."

He swallowed. "I--" Miss you. Love you. "I, mh…." Want you here. Want to be there. "Just call me back."

_Why won't you pick up?_

Sasuke hit the red button, and then scrolled down to where it highlighted the word "Home" and hit send. After it rang a few times and then switched to the answering machine, he ended the call. Before giving up he tried Naruto's cell phone again. Seven rings and a pre-recorded voice later, the raven flipped the phone shut, not bothering to leave a second message.

"He isn't answering," Shino said, stating more than asking, as Sasuke slowly walked back towards him and their luggage.

"Yeah," Sasuke murmured, frowning at the face of the phone. The face remained aglow for a few second, and when the light went off, he said, "I'll try him again when we're at the hotel room."

Shino nodded. "The taxi is waiting for us in Sector C. We should go."

Without another word, Sasuke handed him back the phone before taking a tight grip on the rubber handed of his suitcase, wheeling it after Shino. Like highlighter fluid the sun crept through tall buildings and stained everything beyond recognition, even his own feet. He was too tired, and too bright after he'd closed his eyes for so long. The air around him, although forecasted to be a decent sixty degrees, was a bitter cold against his skin, and the wind swept through his unkempt hair. Their path seemed to be winding, and for the first time in the month's anticipation for this trip, he wanted nothing more than to bolt back onto the plane and head straight for home.

With a nauseating weight in the pit of his stomach and a hunch to his normally prideful gate, Sasuke strode after his friend n silence, listening to the wheels of his luggage clang over the manhole on the ground like rusty pipes against the iron bars of a jail cell.

--

The Indian Summer had died, and in its place it brought a bitter cold that rattled their small portion of the world to the marrow. The sun-baked leaves were freeze-dried and falling limply from the surrounding trees, cracking and crunching like fragile animal bones under the feet of whoever trod across them. Like skeleton hands they clawed at the dark sky that night, thin, wavering branches creating a confusing network of dark bark and naked twigs across the stars. They waved shadows across the ground, mingling with the cold wind as it blew through the window, interrupting the tranquility of the room. Naruto bunched the sheets closer up and around him.

"Sasuke," Naruto murmured. His boyfriend had crept quietly into the room a minute ago, careful not to wake him, and the rustling of fabric that hinted at his getting undressed. "Sasuke…." he called again.

The mattress dipped behind him, and a freezing arm encircled his waist. The digital alarm clock clicked from 12:00 to 12:01, the red a harsh beacon in the dark room.

"Geez, Sasuke," the blond muttered. "Go grab a hot shower. You're freezing."

A breathy chuckle, and then equally cold lips were pressing at that special spot right behind his earlobe, making Naruto shiver.

"Hmm," he hummed. And for a while, they just lay there, enjoying hearing the other breathe so deeply and evenly. Sasuke's thumb ran soothing circles over his hipbone, and that mouth placed kiss after cool kiss on the side of his face. Once Naruto attempted to turn onto his side, or at least his back, to meet Sasuke's lips with his own, but a strong arm tightened around his abdomen and a firmer kiss was placed to his temple, almost pushing his face into the pillow. Playing it off as Sasuke's concern for his exhaustion, Naruto slumped back against the mattress and let himself be pampered.

A few minutes later, when his eyes began to stay shut for longer intervals, Naruto wrapped his hand around Sasuke's forearm, petting it in a lax manner, content for now. He was confused for a moment, wondering why he felt crisp linen instead of bare skin. Hadn't Sasuke undressed? And why hadn't he noticed before?

"'suke," he mutter groggily. He received a short, questioning 'Hn?" in response. "Why don't you take your shirt off?" he asked in a whisper. "Thought that's what you were doin' earlier."

Sasuke didn't answer. The thumb stopped moving, and then the arm disappeared altogether. Naruto thought his lover was actually listening to him for once, but he didn't feel the bed shift.

There was the rustling of cloth. Cloth and something else. Something, perhaps bleach, or maybe Windex, was burning the air, and Naruto was too tired, too happy to have him home, to care.

"Naruto," Sasuke whispered, mouth close to his ear and cold breath fanning across his face. "I need you to do me a favor."

"Hmm, m'kay," Naruto muttered, liking the guttural, throaty voice Sasuke was using. It was deeper than the baritone he usually spoke in. It was nice.

"Good," Sasuke complimented. "Now, love, breathe deeply for me."

Something rough was placed gently beneath his nose, covering his mouth, and held there by a firm hand. The blond reacted on instinct and jerked back, but not before taking a deep breath in shock. His nose was on fire, and so were his lungs. His brain would be, too, but all of a sudden, it was lost in a thick fog, no longer able to send messages to his body. He went limp immediately, and the hand continued to press the rag across his face, even as he lost consciousness. A firm arm shifted under his torso and lifted, moving him to press back against a frozen chest. Frigid lips he'd thought were pleasant pressed into his ear and whispered something, but it became white noise as the darkness took over.


	3. Impatience

Author's Note: I apologize for being a brainless nitwit. I should have started dating the sections of the chapters from the beginning, and starting at chapter three looks plain stupid, but I've just come to the realization that there would be no way for myself or anyone to keep track of the time frame throughout the rest of the story, as the sequence of events throughout chapters are not in numerical order.

Please assume that the first chapter occurred mid-October, the beginning of chapter two early November, and by the end of it November 15. Thank you.

And why 2005? Why not 2008? Because writing about events that happen in the future makes me uncomfortable. Yes, even in a fanfic. Bite me.

_**Kodak**_

--

_Naruto was in a place where the noise was something he was so accustomed to hearing that it didn't even register in his mind that it could be a dangerous thing. Perhaps the sheer volume of it should have been a give-away that something was amiss. Maybe the way that it shook the ground beneath him._

_Either way, those thundering hoof prints never alerted him to his oncoming death until the last minute, and by then, it was too late. Because _he_ had already grabbed him, pushed him back, and out of the way. His head hit a rock embedded in the hard dirt and his head rang with the impact. The astounding amount of pressure encircling his ribcage remained a heavy, constricting force and his lungs struggled to regain the breath that had been knocked out of them. It took a minute or so, and he heard shouts, then silence. The trees stopped spinning. The stars stayed where they were supposed to, dotting the night sky like tiny punctures stabbed through the darkness to reveal the light hiding behind it. Naruto dubbed it safe enough to look up and into the gaze of his savior._

_Cerulean eyes met bright brown, flecked with amber rust and pupils like bottomless pits that seemed to stare through him and into the ground below his back. They stared, scents melding together with that of the nearby city and dewy grass, and a dangerous chill crept up Naruto's spine, warning him of a thing to come that was far more dangerous than a horse-drawn cart out of control._

_In a calm, even voice, the raven-haired man muttered, "Fool."_

_Naruto could not help but agree with him._

**November 16, 2005**

And like that, he was awake.

Naruto shifted upon the mattress, groaning as the pounding that reverberated from one ear canal to the next, increasing in both pressure and volume with each round. There was something hot and pointy in his windpipe, and it branded the flesh of his throat with every cautious breath. Breathing through his nostrils was like inhaling acid. The air felt too thin, too oxygen-depleted, and his body was starved to the point where it began to shiver.

He tried to sit up, but only got as far as propping himself up on his elbows before giving up and laying down on his back to stare at the ceiling. The room smelled clean, but not sterile. The ceiling above him was awash with the moonlight slicing through the crack in the curtains, and the dim orange glow of a flame. A quick glance to his right showed a long stick candle, propped in a golden holster, its feeble light offering little resistance to the eerie darkness blanketing the room. He felt weighed down, but realized it was only a quilt. He curled his hand in it and sighed gently, wondering if Sasuke had thrown it over him. It was the one from their hallway closet. When he didn't feel like messing up their bed to take a nap, he took the dark orange and brown quilt and curled himself underneath it, enjoying the last of the sun with closed eyes.

And it smelled like Sasuke and him. He tugged the quilt up and closer to his nose, inhaling, eyes crinkling as the beginnings of a smile formed on his face.

_Where is he? _Naruto thought, eyes reopening to stare at the ceiling once more. _How long have I been sleeping?_

The candle hissed and crackled, and Naruto wondered at what point the power had gone out. They'd always kept a stock of candles and flashlights beneath the bathroom and kitchen sinks, just in case. He wondered why the raven hadn't at least woken him to… to….

They had navy curtains. Why were these burgundy?

His gaze had drawn itself to the small sliver of moon visible through the tapestry, and he now noticed that instead of being outlined with a fuzzy blue, a deep red tinge was at the edges. They were long, floating almost like mist, not a wrinkle or seam that he could see.

They had _navy _curtains his still half-asleep mind insisted. _Navy_. What was going on here?

He looked at the rest of the room, to see if his sleep-deprived mind could find itself something familiar to settle upon. The layout of the room was very much the same; the bed pushed against the far wall, the door at the back edge of the wall connected to the left of it, the right wall with the window and its mysterious curtains, and the wall facing him…was like something out of a gothic romance movie. Completely made of black and gray stone, a fireplace pitted at the exact center of it. The glass shutters hiding the hearth was stained and cut into intricate patterns of hills of thorny roses, the bright paint darkened by the night. The mantle was white, the only bright thing on the wall and like a blurred ghost. Atop the mantle was an entourage of photo frames, none with images he could make out, all bathed in shadow with only their rectangular outlines left to give away their identity.

The windows were closed, he noted, one of the only clear thoughts in his rampant mind, but the air was so cold and thin, like it hadn't been breathed in so long as was now so eager to be used it made itself as clear as possible. Everything, even the linen beneath his body which he realized matched his set at home and yet had the feeling of fresh paper, smelled too strongly. It assaulted him from all sides, and his chest expanded and collapsed too rapidly for his body to take. He began to shake. He was confused, and without even knowing where he was, he was frightened beyond belief.

He closed his eyes tightly, counted to ten, cleared his head, wished he'd taken just one more kiss, and opened them to find himself fully awake.

The room hadn't changed. It no longer seemed ethereal, but all-too-real, and reality slugged him in the face with the force of a thousand-pound mallet. Almost immediately following the dread was the nauseating, gut-wrenching longing for home, for a locked door and for locked windows and plenty of protective blankets. Even if Sasuke were here he wouldn't feel even a fractioned of how frightened he was now.

No, not frightened… mostly alone. Cold, and it was empty, and utterly lonely. The walls seemed to be too close together, even if the space looked to be even bigger than that of his room at home. Naruto drew himself up, still high off of heightened senses, fear like a thick gel clogging up his arteries, until he sat Indian-style, the quilt still pooled across his lap. The blond man pressed a hand to his side where he could almost feel the arm from the dream, snaking around his torso and jerking him out of the way of being crushed under eight thundering hooves. Against the cleanliness of the room he could smell something like Windex, something almost like disinfectant out of a hospital. And something else, something new, and he concentrated on that as goosebumps eroded the smooth expanse of skin at the back of his neck. It was spicy and strong, familiar and likeable. Edible. It smelled like…

"Are you going to notice me any time soon… Naruto?"

--

**November 19, 2005**

"What."

Sasuke tried to finish his sentence, but he couldn't quite force it out. The 'what' of the one-word statement was spoken in a deadpan, not a hint of emotion to make it into either a question or anything else of the sort. Sasuke's voice felt dead in his throat, and he wondered how he was able to breathe properly, or at all for that matter, when every drop of blood in his system had frozen solid. He pried open his lips to utter a sound, but they were drawn back together a moment later when no words were able to form on his numb tongue. He tried again several times, and again, nothing. The silence and static from the ear pierce was palpable and wiggling in his ears, slithering around the lobe and diving in to muffle the alarmed voices in his mind.

'Gone.' 'Missing."

Such short words that carried such a heavy weight.

And a second later, he was moving and his words were rushed as he snapped into the phone, his voice sounding to him like the crack from a bull whip. "How do you know? When was the last time you--no, anyone's seen him?"

Sakura's voice, too, was rushed as she tried to cram as many words as possible into as short a timeframe as possible. "The last I, or anyone, saw him was the day before you left. Remember, we had lunch at that steak house?"

"I remember," Sasuke returned, now spinning in circles, surveying everything in his room. His wallet, his keys, his passport. He didn't have time to go through customs. He didn't care if he raised suspicion by running onto a plane without even a carry-on. His eyes darted to the phone on the side table. He needed to call the airport, he needed to book a flight ad he needed it booked twenty hours ago. Oh God, home was half way around the world, half way around the fucking world, what was so great about Japan that he thought it good enough to leave Naruto behind, Christ where was Shino, he needed that flight _now_--"Did he leave anything behind? A note, e-mal, voicemail?"

"No, nothing. His professor's didn't see him at all the day you left," Sasuke cursed himself and started toeing on his shoes, one hand grabbing at his wallet and shoving it into his back pocket. He made his way over to the drawer in the bureau and riffled through the contents, looking for his passport. "The doors and windows were all locked. The police--" fuck, fuck, the police, the god-damned mother-_fuck_ing _police, _the safe, the safe, his passport and Shino's passport were in the safe, combination _now_--"said that there was no sign of a fight, no shattered glass, no blood," his heart stuttered and Sasuke seriously thought he would have a premature heart attack, "no anything. The screen was popped on the window, though, so they say they came in through there. But Sasuke, there's no hair, no fingerprints that belonged to anyone but you and Naruto. Nothing except--"

"Hold that, Sakura," Sasuke said curtly. The door was shutting softly behind Shino, who dropped his shoulder bag on the floor by the bed and fixing his friend with a bland stare. "Shino's here."

"Is something the matter?" Shino asked calmly as Sasuke removed the cell phone from his ear and pressed it against his shoulder.

Calmly, a deadly calm, "Naruto is missing. He hasn't been seen since I've left. I'm leaving. You are going to open your phone and tell the airport to get me a seat on the next direct flight home. You will not ask them, you will tell them. If they have any problems, I'll be there in twenty minutes to deal with them. And call me a cab."

Shino was looking for their travel folder, containing information on their hotel and airport, which they kept on the desk as soon as Sasuke said 'leaving'. He was greeting the assistant at the desk before Sasuke finished his order for a cab.

Satisfied, Sasuke returned to his phone conversation. "You were saying?"

There was a pause, a moment of hesitation, and Sasuke nearly growled. His teeth clenched in the second it took Sakura to hesitantly reply. He heard a deep breath crackle the frequency of their long-distance call for a moment before the woman said in a rush, "They found traces of chloroform on his pillow."

A ragged moment of silence in which the world ceased to spin. Then, "I'll see you soon." And Sasuke snapped his phone shut.

--

**November 16, 2005**

_"Sasuke!" _

A huge wave of bone-tingling relief washed over him like a tsunami. His heart, which had stopped when his head snapped to the door, fell back down to a crash and heart beats galloped in his chest. Hysteria was making him heady, and he couldn't figure out why, because home, home sweet home, was standing there in the doorway with a plastic bag by his side full of what looked to be takeout, perfectly normal, in black slacks and a dark blue button-up shirt that was short enough to remain untucked and not look unkempt. He had socks on his feet, like he always did when walking around the house. His face was calm, but quickly perked up upon hearing his name spoken. He looked happy, happier than Naruto had ever seen him. His eyes were alight with relief, with joy.

And they were also red.

The smile slipped slowly from Naruto's face, and he relaxed his arm that had been pushing him up so that he could bolt off the bed. Just as his grin faded, so did the rapture upon this other man's face. A look of puzzlement took over, and a bit of disappointment, too. Like he'd gotten his hopes up for something he knew was a lost cause, but could not resist hoping for all the same.

His eyes weren't red, Naruto realized, merely a bright brown. He stood but a few feet way, looking down at the blond from behind a nose that was a tad bit too long, and his eyes were set below a Widow's peak that dipped too low. His face was pale with a more defined chin, partially hidden behind bangs that were longer than they should have been. His hair stuck up haphazardly at the back of his head, but Naruto could tell that if he washed out the gel, he could pull it into a short ponytail. He looked the same height as Sasuke, as well as having a similar build. He was almost a perfect replica.

But he was not Sasuke. Naruto hadn't a clue who this man was, but he felt almost positive that he wasn't someone he'd get along with.

_Strong arms in a vice-like grip around his chest, constricting and pulling him out of danger's way._

"Who are you?"

The Sasuke look-alike frowned now, eyes overcast, although his shoulders remained stiff and high beneath his shirt. "You had it right the first time."

"Who are you?" Naruto repeated himself, too shocked to force a proper amount of anger into his tone. It wasn't every day that you saw the twin brother of your lover waltz right into the bedroom.

_Wait… _Naruto thought. _Brother. Sasuke mentioned that he had a brother… 'Itachi', wasn't it? He never talked about him much…._

"Itachi?" Naruto tried when the stranger didn't reply. All he got in response was a narrowing of the eyes.

"No. I'm--"

He trailed off, and Naruto took advantage in the lapse of awkward comments to take in his kidnapper's (_Kidnapped, was I kidnapped? Oh Jesus shit, he's going to murder me…) _accent, his voice. It was deeper than Sasuke's, slower, and a bit throaty. It was also tinged with an English accent, and Naruto idly wondered how Sasuke's evil twin brother had landed himself in Europe and why, of all reasons, he'd decided to come back.

"You really don't remember, do you?" the man whispered, disappointment now the primary emotion on his face.

"Remember what?" Naruto flushed slightly, embarrassed when his voice cracked at the second word. "I don't know you."

"You do," the man whispered quietly, eyes begging, pleading in the most subtle of manners for Naruto to remember something he didn't recall forgetting. "It's me. It's Sasuke."

_He's a stalker, _Naruto's mind whispered. _I've read about these guys. They dress up like your boyfriend and kidnap you and set up a real life game of House. And somehow I got stuck with one, fuck._

But Naruto knew that wasn't true. The most that a person could do would be too buy a wig, dye their hair, and get contacts. No wig could create a Widow's peak, at least not like that, and unless he dyed his eyebrows, too, the hair color was natural. It also stuck up exactly like Sasuke's. His facial structure, except for a few minor curves, was a mirror image; even the skin tone looked the same. And wouldn't he have bought gray contacts? Those eyes, lucidly bright in the darkness, flickered red as the candlelight played across his features. And if Naruto weren't mistaken, he could see an odd pattern of dark specks circling the pupil, forming three comma-shaped marks around the iris…

Naruto shuddered, and his captor mistook it for a shiver from the cold.

"I apologize," he murmured softly. "I haven't gotten the electricity to work yet. It's an old house; I've had to do a few renovations. I didn't mean to bring you over so early, I got--" He cut himself off, but Naruto could easily plug in the word that Sasuke would have used--"impatient".

"I'll be right back." He stepped forward, and when Naruto flinched minutely back, he sighed, set the bag of food down in front of the bed, before turning. "You used to like those spiced noodles from the vendors, so I thought that might be what you liked." The raven looked over his shoulder when Naruto didn't move to get the bag. "Eat. It isn't poisoned, you know that. I'll be right back." With that being said, he swept out of the room, hand hanging back to gently grasp the door behind him. It shut with an audible and final sounding _click_.

Naruto waited until he could no longer hear footsteps before he leapt from the bed like a racehorse from the gate. He darted to the door and yanked at the doorknob, just to confirm what he already knew. The handle wouldn't turn. The door didn't budge. He was locked in.

He turned on his heel and ran with his feet as light as possible across the hardwood floor. He flew to the window, curled his fingers under the wooden frame, and pulled up. Nothing. There was an old-fashioned looking keyhole, rusted and taunting the infuriated blond. He backed away and looked around the room for something, anything, that could be used to pick the lock. He glanced briefly outside and noticed that it looked like downtown, only without the drug dealers. The street was dirty, as were the abandoned-looking houses that faced this one across the street. It was dark outside, and Naruto felt weariness tugging at his body. But he refused to let exhaustion take hold now. He needed out, and he needed something to help him.

_There'd a crazy psycho just outside this room and he's going to come back and do God-knows-what, _his mind listed, going though a rapid assessment of the situation. _He thinks he knows me and thinks that I know him. He locked the door. He locked the windows. Oh God what the fuck did I do to you?_

All too soon he heard the slide of a deadbolt and, whirling around, breath leaving him in a flourish, his wide blue eyes met brown once again. There was a crease between two fine, thinly arched brows, a look in his gaze that was reminiscent of a parent chiding a child who had their hands shoved in a cookie jar. But he remained quiet and, leaving the door slightly ajar, crossed the room and to the fire place. Naruto noticed that there was a bundle of kindling wood and a few split logs stacked into his arms.

"This should do for a few hours," Sasuke informed him, relieving himself of the load by dumping it on the small placemat of ceramic tile, then pushing aside the rose-painted shudders to reveal solid gray grates. "It'll warm up shortly. And don't try to run," he added, almost as an afterthought. "I'm sitting right here." He said this as if it were just an unnecessary add-on, like he knew that Naruto wouldn't dare disobey him whether he voiced the order or not.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. _Like Hell._

Without so much as a second thought, he was out the door and running as if the hounds of the Underworld were biting at his heels.

The first thought in his head was that it was stupid to waste time in closing the door and locking it, although he couldn't quite figure out why. Then he realized it was because whoever that man was had a key, but still, just a few seconds was all he may need, just a slight lengthening of the gap between their two bodies, their speed. His eyes snapped to his right and, spotting a gap of air, ran in that direction and he bounded down the stairs with a quickness he'd never imagined he could accomplish. They creaked and groaned under his thundering feet, and the banister his hand slid down upon felt grainy and delicate, like it was made of sand and would collapse if too much pressure were to be put upon it.

He was disappointed that the landing was not in the foyer but within another room, and the transition from familiar, to almost-medieval, to the early 90's was mind-boggling. This room, although swathed in shadow, was almost clear save for several pieces of furniture, all hidden beneath discolored sheets. There was an empty wooden table along the wall which, Naruto guessed, used to house a TV. The fan on the ceiling looked as if it hadn't been used in years, although it, and everything in this room, didn't have a single speck of dust on it. There was a Grandfather clock tucked into the corner of the sitting room, the lower case of it ajar and the top panel removed. A small toolbox and several metallic gadgets and fixtures littered the floor, as if someone were in the middle of fixing it. The ancient hands remained frozen on a permanent midnight. Naruto shuddered, having paused only a moment to register it all, before looking to the left and then the right. To the right he could see what he guessed to the kitchen, to the left the dining room. He took the right.

After skittering over the tile floor of an old, but clean, kitchen, not a single light to help to guide him, he noted a door on the left, closed. To the right was a shadowed threshold and he went through there, thinking it led to the foyer, and the other door a connection to the dining room he'd gotten a glimpse of.

What he saw truly threw him, and he wasted several precious moments to gape in horror.

He was back in the kitchen.

Then, he realized, he was not in the same kitchen, merely one that look almost exactly like it. This refrigerator looked slightly more modern, a sleek and glassy chrome as opposed to cheap and beige. His eyes darted to the right, saw a dining room and a wall that separated it from the first kitchen.

_It's like another house…. _Naruto thought dizzily. _Were they trying to combine them or something?_

All thoughts of odd housing schematics fled his head when he saw, finally, a mudroom, the dark-paneled door the most beautiful thing he'd ever hoped to see. He practically slammed into it in his haste, tugging on the handle. His heart crashed and melted into his chest, his lungs imploding and eyes burning with frustration, when his hands, slick with seat, slid on the handle that refused to turn. It was locked. He fumbled with the little knob set in the handle and tried again with no luck.

_This is an old house, _Naruto thought, panicking now. _The whole neighborhood looks abandoned. They probably have one of those safety locks on the outside to keep kids out…. _His eyes were drawn up, and his worst fears were confirmed. A shiny, bright blue panel was nailed to the door, its other half probably on the other side. Construction workers used these, he knew, so that they could get in when they needed. And to keep lock pickers out. He didn't have time to try to get to locate the other door in the first house. He'd have to try and find something to swing at one of the windows (which were also undoubtedly locked) and climb through them. He pivoted around--

And slammed himself right back, pain ringing from his shoulder blades and throughout his back, his feet trying to push him back even further into it, wishing for the door to just swallow him up and spit him out on the other side.

Intense brown eyes stared at him from the mouth of the mudroom, not two feet from Naruto. Two hands were clenching at his captor's sides, and for the first time, Naruto noticed that he wore one black leather glove over his right hand, the material looking so thin that it fit the contours of his fingers and palms almost perfectly. The top button of his shirt was undone, revealing skin that matched Sasuke's. His height truly was a match to his lover's, as well, around a head taller than him. His face, the same face, so much that Naruto half-guessed himself and wondered why he was running away. But his eyes, although the same narrow shape, if not a bit narrower, were bearing a hurt look and such ragged disappointment that the blond couldn't help but feel guilty.

The stranger opened his mouth, closed it with a sharp click of teeth, snorted and looked away as if indifferent, although his clenching fists told a different tale. Naruto stood frozen against the door. His hand reached out, almost subconsciously, to circle around the doorknob, twisting, pulling, trying his hardest to make it turn. Forget the lock, he'd yank the door off its hinges if he had to…

He noticed without even looking up. "It's locked, you fool," he whispered in a voice so very much like Sasuke's.

Naruto stiffened. "Fine," he snapped. "I prefer it like this, anyway." He managed to peel himself away from the door arm and swivel so that his side was facing the raven haired man, arms coming up and hands curled loosely, ready to either punch or defend his center line.

The man finally looked up, and upon seeing Naruto's stance, snorted again softly, and a twinkle of mirth caused one edge of lips to tilt up into a shadow of a smirk, like he'd forgotten how to do it. "Fool," he repeated. "It's no use in fighting me. Especially if you don't remember."

"Fuck," Naruto spat, "you." Using the foot closest to the door to launch himself, he darted forward, ducking his side down slightly and bring his fist up to slam into the taller man's jaw, hitting his mark dead on. A head of black hair flew back, but his neck didn't make the cracking noise it should make when jerked so quickly. He remained dead still, only his head arched back to stare at the ceiling. The rest of him stood at ease.

Blinking, Naruto growled at what he thought was a taunt. His fist drew back, fisted itself again, this time slamming into his stomach right below his rib cage. Naruto could _feel _his ribs, feel how the skin belted inwards at the force, but not a gasp left gusted from his lips. Air should have been flown out of lungs with that hit, it was hard, his fist had sunk in, he should be doubled over in pain…

The face turned back down from the ceiling, skin as white as snow, not so much as a red mark where Naruto had so furiously planted his fist. He punched him on the cheek this time, noting how cool the skin felt, could feel bone, hard against his skin. His head snapped to the side soundlessly before slowly turning to look at him once more, as if waiting patiently for a semi-entertaining event to take place.

Naruto hit him on the other cheek, as hard as he could. Swift turn, silence, slowly revolving back to stare at him.

"Are you done?" he asked quietly, lips clean of any splits or blood, to reveal glittering white teeth, perfectly even, slightly sharp in the light from the lampposts outside. Too sharp in the light.

Naruto's eyes bulged in their sockets and stared. The stranger kept his mouth slightly ajar, showing him his teeth, his mouth, and Naruto was back to slowly receding to the door, now ready to throw himself against it until he burst through.

"This is getting tiresome, Naruto."

The gloved hand raised itself so quickly that Naruto flinched back, expecting a hit from this man who could apparently take a blow without feeling an ounce of pain, a stalker who'd somehow gotten himself a miraculous disguise to make himself into a mirror image of Sasuke, a supernatural fanatic who must have spend hours and hours with a file sharpening his teeth.

_But they're so long, _the panicked part of his brain hissed, _how can a person have such long teeth?_

_Dentures. He has dentures._

_Those don't look like dentures, those aren't fucking dentures, those are fa--_

_Shut up!_

Instead of hitting him, the hand glided smoothly over Naruto's ear. The leather, he noted, soft and smooth as butter, and his hand raked through his hair before fisting a handful of it at the back of his head. Gently he pulled, and Naruto, at a loss of what to do, stumbled closer.

"Remember," the Sasuke-look-alike said. It wasn't a question, it wasn't a request, it wasn't gentle. It was a firm order, spoken in the same tone he'd used when he told Naruto not to run.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Naruto gritted out. "Let go of me."

"Remember," he repeated, just as firm, a bit colder. The fingers tightened themselves with the slightest bit of pressure, but Naruto noticed enough.

Starting, his hands flew up to grapple at the hand holding him. He dug the nails of his thumbs into the cavity of his wrist, he tugged sharply at the pinky finger which wouldn't even bend, and than he was prying forcefully at the side of his hand. His arms suddenly dropped as it he'd touched hot brick.

Inside the glove felt like solid iron.

The rest of his skin, his cold, freezing skin, pressed inwards, but that spot had been so hard, so firm, Naruto could have sworn that, no matter how impossible the concept, he had just fingered the butt end of a gun.

What….

_What the Hell is going on?_

It took Naruto to gather his bearings before he spoke in a voice that cracked, hands now fisting the cloth of the man's shirt for lack of a better thing to do. "What are you?" He didn't bother ask to ask who he was; he'd already made it quite clear that he belonged in a quiet cell at the farther mental hospital from this spot. But _what _he was….

"You'd know--" Sasuke began, but Naruto cut him off.

"If I what? _Remember_?" He was pleased to note that his voice was stronger, stronger than he felt.

"Yes," he replied. "Remember me."

"I've never met you in my life."

"No. Not in this one."

"What're you--"

Naruto didn't notice how close this "Sasuke" had brought their faces together until firm, cool, _familiar _lips were pressing tightly over his own. He tiled both of their heads to an angle that Naruto and his Sasuke used all the time. The blond shut his eyes, and was unsurprised that in the darkness his eyelids presented, he could've sworn it was Sasuke kissing him, perhaps after coming in from a cold winter morning, but Sasuke all the same.

The kiss was slow, distracting, and he found he couldn't open his eyes. He didn't want to. He didn't move back, just paid attention, tried to find subtle differences in this and the thousands of others he'd experienced over the years. It was heart-stopping to find not a single one.

It was when "Sasuke" started to tongue his lower lip and the seam of his slightly parted mouth, when Naruto first wondered if making love with this man would feel the same as well, that he snapped to his senses. Eyelids parting, he gave a startled gasp, and a cold tongue slid into his mouth. As if he thought it would have an affect, Naruto bit down with all of his strength and let go just as quickly when Sasuke didn't so much as flinch, when he didn't taste blood. It was too weird, too disgusting, to hold the slimy and squirming thing between his teeth and not have an affect on it. Instead he tried to twist his face away, but "Sasuke" held firm, tilting his head to an even better angle and kissing like Sasuke did when they hadn't seen each other for more than a day. Like it had lasted a century, like this would allow him the breath he hadn't been able to take in hours.

Breath. Breathing. When Naruto tried to push against his chest, he noticed the lack of a beating heart beneath his right palm.

_Oh God…._

He couldn't help it. Naruto screamed, and he felt it would have been loud enough to shatter windows if "Sasuke's" mouth wasn't there to smother it. Naruto cupped his palms to press against the smooth expanse of pale neck and pushed. No beat, no pulse, _Oh my God, _and he thrust with all of his strength. "Sasuke" did not budge an inch. He used his thumbs to claw at the insides of his ears, nothing. He yanked and pulled at his earlobes, enough to tear them off, but they didn't so much as redden. Then he was fisting two bunches of hair and pulling, pulling. Sasuke groaned, but not in pain, and Naruto gave a dry sob, breathing heavily through his nose. The kiss was getting more brutal, sloppier, and saliva started to dribble down his cheek and chin. One long, cold arm wrapped around his waist and pulled so that they were pressed tightly together, and Naruto whimpered at the sudden pressure against his abdomen. _Oh God._

_God no._

Naruto screamed again, bit down again and held for longer this time. He let go when "Sasuke" gently tugged at his hair, not a real warning, but as if he were lightly whacking a puppy on the head for chewing on a pair of slippers; what was important was the noise it made, to scare it. What was more important now was the reminder that Sasuke had a hand in his hair, and that he could do a lot worse then a gentle tug.

Naruto let him do as he wished and forced himself to relax. His hands dropped from Sasuke's hair, and he stood motionless, waiting for the other man to lose interest. Sasuke jerked him forward, pressing them even tighter together, and still Naruto didn't react.

The blond began to count in his head, swallowing open-mouthed against the fear and anxiety that were threatening to transform him into a useless sobbing pile of flesh and bone. His heartbeat remained loud in his ears, homesickness and the longing for warm arms and a familiar setting threatening to blow apart his world, until he could track the seconds without his thoughts straying. Forty-seven steady counts later, Sasuke slowed down and withdrew his tongue, although not his lips. He massaged Naruto's gently, an almost apology to the brutal bruising force he'd been using, and he mouthed words the blond couldn't understand. Finally, with a chaste kiss to his puffed lower lip with a mouth now as warm as Naruto's, he drew back.

His nose was cold, he realized, from rubbing against Sasuke's. His eyes ticked. Sasuke stroked his hip with his thumb. Naruto threw a punch that Sasuke caught squarely in the cheek, but again, his head snapped to the side before turning back down to face him.

"You don't remember."

"You're a smart one, aren't you?" Naruto wanted to ask. Instead, he said, "If I say yes, will you let me go?"

It was odd. One moment Naruto was staring up into angry eyes, and the next he was looking at Sasuke's back, feeling the blood rush to his head, and seeing the ground flood by rapidly beneath moving feet.

"Wait!" Naruto yelped, pushing himself up with his palms against a hard back. Sasuke merely jolted his shoulder sharply, causing Naruto to bounce slightly and flop over his back once again. "Let me go!" he ordered, kicks his legs. He wished he still had shoes on, as he felt his bare feet hit Sasuke's stomach and hip bone, hurting at the impact but without a single reaction in turn. At one point he knew that when his heel hit Sasuke's nose, but all he got was the raven batting his foot away impatiently.

Naruto wasn't sure where he was being carried, but was absolutely positive that he didn't want to go there.

All while they went through the bottom half of the enlarged house, amidst Naruto's shouted obscenities and fruitless struggles, Sasuke spoke calmly. "I wasn't sure what you wanted our room to look like," he said, "our old room, or that place you used to live in. So I tried both."

The words "used to" sent chills racing up his spine, and Naruto tossed harder. Sasuke jerked his shoulder again, a bit more violently, and continue to speak. "I know you hate small spaces, so I knocked down the wall dividing this house and the next one over. I don't know how _he_ ever managed to keep you in that cooped up little house."

Naruto hazarded a guess at who that 'he' was, and said, "Sasuke didn't _keep _me anywhere! He and I got that place together!"

"Hn. Whatever." Sasuke shifted Naruto a bit on his shoulder. They'd reached the top of the stairs. "This place isn't permanent. It's convenient, though. I was told that I might run into a few problems with your memory--"

"Told? Told by who!? And I don't have any fucking problems with my damned memory!"

"--so we'll take care of that before I change you, and then we'll move to a permanent home. Maybe in England, or Scotland. Some place with clean air."

_Pretty picky about air for a person who doesn't __**breathe**_, Naruto thought, and then realized he'd admitted to himself, quite frankly, that whatever was holding him was less human than a bear or a tortoise. Instead of calling him out on his physical attributes, Naruto said, "Change me into what?"

Sasuke was silent. They were back where they'd started, in the room that was a hybrid between Naruto's room back home and what Sasuke called their "old room".

Sasuke locked the door behind them, and Naruto watched as he dropped the heavy key into his back pocket. The blond winced. _I don't know if that's to keep me from trying to get it, or to try to make me go for it. _He was dropped gracelessly on the bed and he yelped as he bounced, his skull smacking into the wooden headboard. Groaning, he sat up and massaged the back of his scalp, face flushed from anger, frustration, and thousands of other emotions he was too tired to name. He watched the inhuman being cross the room with eyes like a hawk, noting and keeping track of every movement. A picture frame was picked up from the mantel and brought back over.

"He told me to bring something in case it was hard to convince you," Sasuke told him. Naruto shrunk back an inch, but was too stubborn to move any further, when Sasuke crawled over the bed, swinging his legs under him so that he sat with one leg curled under him, one leg hanging over the bed, staring down at the photo. "It's blurry, but then again, it's over a hundred years old."

He turned it to face Naruto, but the blond had his eyes firmly trained on Sasuke's features. But not his mouth. He didn't think his heart could take one more shock, and he was half-way to convincing himself that he'd been seeing things. No one, not a single person on the planet, could have fangs.

Scowling, he grabbed Naruto by the hair again and forced his head down, thrusting the frame into his face. He kept the object five inches from the blond's nose, no matter how hard the head jerked back, how hard the hands pushed at his wrist. Eventually Naruto gave in and looked, looked hard. It was black and white, faded to almost gray. The photograph was cracked, and where the back showed was yellowed with age. In the image were three things he took note of. The background, a dreary and damp-looking city with old buildings and a cobblestone road. The second was Sasuke, a replica to match the live one sitting not a foot's breath away from him. The third one was himself, smiling and happy, hooked underneath Sasuke's arm.

He gasped, loudly, and made himself freeze under the raven's hard gaze. Sasuke released him, hope lightning his features as the blond slowly returned his blue-eyed gaze to his own.

"Sasuke…." his eyes widened, surprise and shock mangling his features.

"Naruto," murmured, hopeful, relieved, cautious.

The blond smiled, gently, and Sasuke looked like he couldn't believe what he saw, was almost too thrilled to see it.

"I didn't know you were so good with photoshop."

Sasuke blinked.

Naruto spat into his face.

There was a simultaneous crack and shatter; the former being the wooden frame breaking into several chunks of splintered wood, the latter being the grass cracking and falling apart into hundreds of pointy shards as the frame hit the wall. Then Sasuke was pinning Naruto underneath him with a glare so deadly the blond wondered if such a gaze could contain poison. It certainly felt it. He felt like his heart was going to pound itself straight through his chest, and his stomach was revolting and tossing, repeatedly dropping and making his whole body burn. He felt tears begin to prickle the backs of his eyes.

This, he knew, was the most terrified he had ever, and would ever, be. Just that look made him want to die. Hopelessness made his breath run ragged, and a single tear dripped from the corner of his eyes and into his hair.

"I give up." It was spoken with the deadliest of calms, and Naruto would have rather he shouted. "I'm done playing games. I'm through with being kind."

_He won't kill me, _Naruto told himself. _He's going to do something much worse._

"I wanted to remind you, to make you remember your promise," he said, still stoic, still emotionless, but with such rage and betrayal twisting his gaze Naruto wondered how he was still breathing. "It would have been so much easier to turn you that way, to deal with this memory problem of yours beforehand. But now I see that you refuse to cooperate with even this. So we will do it your way."

Naruto's way. Naruto didn't have a way. Whatever his man was talking about wasn't his way at all.

"I want to go home," he whispered. He knew his voice would crack if he spoke any louder than this. He knew he sounded like a ten-year-old, but he didn't care. Another tear bled into his hair. "Let me go. I want to go back to Sasuke."

"This is home," Sasuke said flatly. "And I am Sasuke."

"He'll be scared. He'll be worried."

"Then he can wait patiently like I have, for as many decades as I have."

Decades. Decades. _Decades. _His world spun around him once more, in a much more nauseating rhythm.

"I do not care that you claim you've forgotten all about me," Sasuke said. "I will remind you." A fraction's moment of a pause. 'You were born in London, England in 1887."

Naruto wanted to hit some sense into him, but found himself transfixed, as if he were reading a book that would not let him put it down until he reached the end.

Sasuke went on. "I was on my way through the city when I first met you on the outskirts of town, where I saved you from being mauled to death by a horse-drawn cart and a drunken rider."

This could not be good for his heart, or his eyes. They'd grown wide once more, this time with honest recognition of Sasuke's words. It did not go unnoticed.

"You remember," he said plainly. When Naruto didn't respond, he went on as if there had been no interruption. "You were stubborn to thank me. To pay me back, you said, for saving your life. You followed me around, and I had been alone for far too many years to let company pass me by. I was lonely. And so were you. You told me you loved me, after a few short months. I doubted your words. I told you what I am, and you took it in stride. You told me that you loved me again, and this time, loved me more than life. More than the light that I would steal away from you. I told you I couldn't stay. You promised to come with me; to let me change you, to stay with me for however long we chose to remain in this life." His eyes darkened. "You promised, and you said you never went back on your word. I believed you, and still do. I will hold you to your word, like you encouraged me to do. Even if you do not remember.

"Things went wrong quickly. I did not think to ask my companion how to change you properly. I was foolish, stubborn, independent. I tried, I failed, and you died." He said it all as if reading it off a roster, plain and simple, touching briefly on a dozen different thing but offering no further detail.

_I don't remember any of this, _Naruto thought before mentally smacking himself. Of course he didn't remember. None of this was real. It couldn't be real. It belonged in a fairy tale, not in reality.

Sasuke parted his lips once more, letting the tips of his fangs drag lightly over his lower lip before running a red tongue over them.

_He can't breathe_, Naruto reminded himself. _He can't feel pain. He has no pulse, no heat. He's claimed to live for well over a century. And his eyes are too old for the rest of him._

_Why?_

Out of all the things he should have been worried about, thinking about, 'why' was the one word that repeated itself over and over in his head. Why was he kidnapped? Why was he forced into a position that would make his lover fret and worry? Why was he held captive by a man who looked like he'd put his life in Naruto's hands, and was now begging him to take care of it?

Why, why, why?

Sasuke ran his tongue over his lips, making them look as soft and delicate as white rose petals, before he tipped Naruto's head back by a fist that was once more in his hair. There was a maniacal determination in the way those eyes gleamed now, in the way his jaw was set.

Naruto snapped out of it as the raven began to dip his head to his throat. His elbows dug themselves into his own ribcage and he braced his hands against Sasuke's oncoming face. The taller man had, at some point, fit himself between Naruto's legs. Now the blond drew them up and planted the balls of his feet into narrow hipbones and pressed until the backs of his shoulders were pressed into the headboard. He stiffened his whole body, managing, at last, to beat the other man out.

Sasuke's eyes flew up to his face. No angrier than before, but more determined. _He could tie me up. It'd be easy for him. Or turn me around and bite me from behind. It would be so easy. I have to do something, anything. I can't out strength him, and this will probably be the only time that I can out-maneuver him. I have to do something before he does whatever he intends to do. I have to do it now._

Naruto knew exactly what Sasuke intended to do. There was no use in fooling himself. He'd bite him, pierce him with those lethal looking fangs, and Naruto would become whatever this monster was.

_I have to do something now._

"Let's make a deal!" he blurted out, saying the first thing that could come to his mind. Deals. Deals with the devil, he knew, never turned out well, but it was that or lose right now. He would take his chances.

"Deal?'

That is, if Sasuke would even take the bait.

"A deal," Naruto repeated, nearly breathless with relief. But Sasuke didn't move from his intimidating position, so the blond didn't move his hands or legs, either. "If… umm…" He tried to think of terms and conditions as quickly as possible. He was making this up on the spot, after all. And if the Sasuke above him was anything like his own Sasuke back home, he was nearly out of what limited patience he had. "A month." A time set, a good one; all things were done in monthly-intervals. "Thirty days," to buy time.

"Thirty days for what?" Sasuke hissed. At least he wasn't speaking in a deadly calm anymore, Naruto thought, relieved.

"For me to remember whatever you want me to," Naruto said quickly. "If I remember by the end of a month, then you can… 'change' me." Naruto winced,

"And if you don't?" Sasuke prodded, looking slightly intrigued.

"Then you let me go home," Naruto said firmly.

Sasuke was silent for a long time, just staring down at him. It drew out into several minutes, Naruto waiting with baited breath. Finally, the older man said, "Some months have thirty-one days."

Was that supposed to be a joke? But then, Naruto almost started to laugh with relief as Sasuke leaned back. He allowed his feet to relax on the mattress, and used his freed hands to push himself back up to lean against the headboard.

"And some months have twenty-eight," Naruto said, voice weak with relief. "Feel lucky I gave you thirty."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, and he stiffened again. "Feel lucky that I'm going along with this ludicrous plan at all," he snapped. Then, "And what's to say you'll hold up your side of this bargain? If you remember and you lie to me?"

"If I remember what you're telling me I should, I'll be asking for you to change me," Naruto pointed out sharply. "And you're more likely to stab me in the back, anyway. Who's to say you won't try and 'change' me even if I don't remember all this bullshit after a month? I'm putting a bit of trust into you, bastard, even though you don't deserve it. The least you could do is trust me a bit back."

Sasuke frowned. "I could save myself all this hassle," he said, "and just bite you now. It wouldn't be a problem. You know that."

"But you love me, don't you?" Naruto blurted out. Sasuke froze; he knew his word shad hit a mark. "If you love me, you'll agree."

Sasuke glared hard at him, and Naruto met it with a level gaze. Finally, he snorted, and settled onto his haunches. "Fine, moron," he muttered. "Thirty days. But… I want to add one of my own conditions."

"And that is…." Naruto asked hesitantly, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"You cannot leave this house for the next thirty days. If you do, it will be with my permission and supervision." Naruto's jaw dropped. "I won't have you trying to escape. If I agree to your ridiculous rules, than surely you can agree with mine."

Naruto sputtered, outraged, "No!" Even if he was positive that this was all too fantasized to come even close to real, even though he was sure that Sasuke was as firm on his word as Naruto, he couldn't get the dream out of his head. Of being pulled out of the way of a horse-drawn caught by a pale man with bright brown eyes…

Sasuke shrugged. "Then you go back down on the bed and I'll bite you," he said simply. "Love or no love," he added when Naruto opened his mouth to make an angry retort. "You agree to my one simple condition, or I do it now. Your choice."

Sasuke watched with a smirk as Naruto went though a silent, yet furious battle inside of his mind. Finally, after several long moments of consideration, Naruto muttered. "Fine. Have it your way bastard."

Sasuke's smirk grew. "I will. Thirty days to make you see sense. I doubt I'll need that long"

"I'm always willing to shorten the time span," Naruto snapped back, irritated. "Less time I have to spend in your company, the better."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Whatever, idiot." He reached a hand out, not quickly but with a deliberate speed, and Naruto shrank back.

"Don't touch me!"

Sasuke ignore him and gently pressed his right hand over Naruto's throat. The blond gasped, feeling the steel-like hardness of that particularly spot of skin once more. "Why--?"

"Silence," Sasuke murmured quietly. He didn't squeeze hard enough that Naruto's air was cut off, but with enough pressure to remain a constant threat. Ignoring the hands grappling at his wrist and forearm, he used his free hand to grab Naruto's right wrist in a vice-like grip, pulling it so that the appendage was fully stretched.

"I'm hungry," he informed his prisoner. "Stay still or it will hurt more."

"W-what!?" Naruto stammered, a thin sheet of sweat beginning to form over his brow. "You said you wouldn't--!"

"I said I wouldn't change you," Sasuke informed him. "I said nothing about biting."

"You mother-fucking **bastard**!"

Sasuke chuckled softly before bringing his mouth to Naruto's arm. Gently, he traced with his tongue the faint blue line that indicated the large vein just below his skin. Naruto shuddered, feeling pins and needles begin to settle in his arm from the strained position it was forced into.

The tongue withdrew, and Naruto couldn't stop the whimpered "Please" that escaped his trembling lips.

Sasuke ignored him. With two long teeth, as sharp and pointed as a blade, he pierced the flesh and pushed his fangs deep into liquid, coppery warmth.


	4. Bite

Merry Christmas, everyone.

_**Kodak**_

--

**November 16, 2005**

When the first jolt of pain and shock sliced through his body like a white hot whiplash, Naruto's free hand, the one that hadn't burst into flames and shattered into millions of unidentifiable pieces, was tugging at the cold restraint pressing against his neck, curses spewing from his lips like magma from a violent volcano. His legs thrashed and met immobile targets, and what felt like his entire ride side was pinned to the bed with a sickening paralysis.

It wasn't like the first bite had hurt all that much. For a few long seconds following a sharp gasp of pain, Sasuke had settled for keeping his jaw and lips tight over the patch of his arm, and although it made him all the more queasy just thinking about it, he knew those dagger-like fangs protruding from him gums where normal teeth were supposed to grow were embedded deeply into the skin.

However, when Sasuke gave a harsh suck and groaned, when a shinning pearl drop of blood blossomed at the corner of pale lips and trailed down an equally white chin, Naruto cried out from the agony of it, feet stopping their useless thrashes and beginning to scrabble along the bed for some kind of purchase, his body inching this way and that but never getting any farther as Sasuke continued to suck the blood from his arm. Naruto caught sight of his captor's throat and saw it bob with every fervent wave of pain that left the blond shaking and he moaned, eyes shutting and teeth clenching. His stomach was revolting against the rest of his body and was trying to claw its way out by way of his throat, and Naruto was beginning to think it was going to win. He tried to swallow against it, but Sasuke was practically purring as he drank, no, _gulped _down his blood, and the thought of swallowing anything made him want to gag. His whole right arm was shaking and his fingers felt numb. His breath caught in his throat time after time; Sasuke seemed to have stopped keeping tabs on the strength he was exerting and Naruto couldn't decide what he was going to die of first, blood loss or suffocation.

Naruto moaned again, this time only to drown out Sasuke's noises and the sickening slurps, the feel of a wet and rough tongue moving over his skin, those teeth dipping out a bit and then pushing in further, as if they had hit a dry patch and were trying to find a better angle. His eyes were partially open and staring at the ceiling, and his muscles liquefied until all he could do was try and breath, try and ignore the vampire

_--vampire, vampire, is that what it is, is that what this thing is--_

until he finished.

And he did, some time later, when the great sucks and gulps turned to small sips and tiny, electrifying stabs of brutal pain. Then the fangs began to retract, and a whole different agonizing torture set in. Naruto almost wished the teeth would sink back in, just to avoid any more pain, but when they were gone the blond relaxed even further into a slump. He hadn't noticed it, but now he felt Sasuke's fingers, warm in his grip, twining with his own. And he held it back, his grip fragile and weak, his bones feeling chilled. Sasuke's mouth was warm from fresh blood as he lapped at stinging flesh, jaw moving in a mechanical rhythm, as if he'd done it hundreds of times before and this time was only one more to add onto his routine. Naruto glanced down and immediately wished he hadn't, whimpering slightly as fresh nausea bubbled in his mutinous stomach. Two bloody, gaping puncture wounds riddled the flesh of his arm, the skin around the holes seeming to be gone completely. Thin trickles of blood continued to fill them, only to be washed away by a greedy tongue seconds later. Like a car crash, Naruto could not help but watch, even though his vision began to blur around the edges. The realization that Sasuke could do anything to him in this weak state and he'd be as equally unable to do anything to prevent it was a dull bother, his mind barely registering it. The moonlight and lamplight flickered like pale ghosts over the bed, and Naruto shivered at the sight.

The hand that had been clutching his throat now moved to gently rub his sore right shoulder before roving once over his chest, dipping over his lax left arm to snake under his back, gripping him in a half-hug. Sasuke was kissing his arm now, slowly, licking every now and then. He traveled to hollow that was opposite his elbow, then up and up until he met the edge of Naruto's shirt sleeve. Nudging it aside with his nose he continued to trail shocking heat to his shoulder. He felt like the whole entire world was spinning on its axis. The dizziness he felt was reminiscent of the kind he'd always endured for a day or so after he'd donated blood to the Red Cross. But then, he wasn't pinned down to a bed and assaulted by what could only be described as a vampire. Back then, he was given a glass of orange juice from a cartoon Sasuke had kept in the trunk for him, driven home by Sasuke, made to lay down on the couch by Sasuke, endured a short wait while Sasuke quickly made him a stir fry dinner out of whatever red meat they had in the fridge, held by Sasuke as they watched whatever Naruto wanted on the television, thought of the wistful look in Sasuke's eyes that told him he wanted to donate that day as well, the firm set of his mouth that told the story of how he'd wait until the next time so that he could spend today making sure Naruto got home safe, ate well, went to bed early, drank plenty of fluids….

"Sasuke," Naruto whispered, eyes burning, even though the rest of his skin felt cold. The vampire had taken his head out of Naruto's shirt so that he could place kiss after sweltering kiss on his neck, sucking constantly, groaning. The heated hand left Naruto's grip to entangle in his hair, tugging his head to the side to permit him better access. The arm around his back withdrew so that the hand could trail down his side only to dip under his shirt, heatedly rubbing his stomach.

"_Sasuke_," Naruto murmured, eyes narrowed at the ceiling, back arching when nimble fingers found a nipple to pinch. A bold knee stroked along the outside of his thigh before dipping inwards and parting Naruto's legs. A firm, warm body slid between them and eager hips met his, pushing, a groan emitting from pale pink lips, red eyes so dark they could have been black, or gray, or--

"Sasuke," please, find me, were the words left unsaid as lips crashed into his in sync with the brutal force grinding into his pelvis.

_Sasuke, come find me, please, I don't want to be here anymore, please_

They kissed frantically, one with smug victory in every swipe of his tongue, in every sharp nip to kiss-reddened lips, one with a mind so deranged he didn't care who this was, only that the style and the shape of the mouth was so familiar, so damned _warm, _and sense had completely left the room. Now all that remained was unbridled and soundless passion, mingling with the smell of iron in the air. Homesickness, quenched thirst, and hopes that would not stop dying and reforming.

When Sasuke tilted his head and bit down none-too-gently, licking the blood that beaded there, Naruto realized several things. That this was not his Sasuke, that this man was unknotting the drawstring of his pants, and he had to stop this kiss if he ever wanted to get a word n edge-wise because, judging by the jelly-like feeling of his bones, physical resistance would get him nowhere.

_Can't bite, it won't hurt him, he has my head pinned, if he could stop moving, stop biting, I'd be fine, I'd tell him exactly where to go---_

Finally, Sasuke moved to press firm kisses along the corner of his mouth, trailing them down so that he could lick along the line of his chin. Naruto spent a precious five seconds learning how to breathe again, but when that lethal mouth started to take the path leading back to his lips he voiced his protests. Loudly.

"KNOCK IT THE FUCK OFF!"

Then his free arm, the one with at least a little feeling in it, went up to push at the hollow of Sasuke's face where the eye was. The raven haired man's response was to back off by a few inches, but his hand continued its exploration of his chest while the other tried to move his pants down past his hips. Naruto dug his rear into the bed, refusing to move his hips to help. Sasuke groaned and backed away further, kissing at his palm before licking his wrist. Naruto jerked the hand back, the fangs too close to such a vital artery for his comfort.

With his head free, Sasuke dove down lick hungrily at his sternum, one hand keeping the shirt hiked up, the other still yanking at his pants. "Come on," he groaned. "Come _on_."

"No! No on! Get off!"

Sasuke's hands reached down to grip Naruto's legs by the backs of his knees, clasping tightly and hoisting them up under the tops of his calves were resting upon the vampire's shoulders. This time, when Sasuke tugged at his pants, they came free, along with his boxers, and slid up to the bend in his legs. Naruto cried out in shock, and yelped when hot hands were instantly at him, tugging at him, inserting themselves, rubbing and pushing, sliding over and around and _in_…

"Stop!" His voice was cracking, badly, but he didn't care. He only cared that one hand left him to tug at the button keeping black slacks up, and that clothes were being discarded entirely too quickly and too easily. Shaking like a leaf, Naruto tried pushing himself up, but fell back when a mouth was at his and when two dry fingers pushed deeply inside of him, scratching along sensitive flesh and Naruto screamed into the older man's mouth. He felt a stiff, hot sex press against his, felt it thrust and dip lower, just as a third finger began to push into him.

_I don't care that it's disgusting_, Naruto realized, and stopped pushing at Sasuke's shoulder. He choked when the third finger pushed abruptly into him, making his gasp for breath because a solid and real tongue was attacking his and a too-ready erection was pushing at him, nearly into him, and those three fingers were beginning to slide out and he was so wholly unprepared and he didn't want it and fuck it would hurt like this…

_I don't care! _Naruto bit down on the tongue, hard, twisting his head to the side. His hand reached up, middle and index fingers finding the grooves to either side of the bridge of his nose, and stabbed forward. A slick barrier met the pads of his fingers, but Naruto just grit his teeth down harder and made him dig his nails further into his assaulter's eyeballs. Earlier he'd jerked back when Naruto pressed his palm into his eye. He hoped to get the same reaction.

Naruto got better than he had hoped for. Sasuke practically flew back, their bodies parting as the man gasped in pain, both hands flying up to his eyes. Naruto took the chance to jerk his legs off of the larger man's shoulders, wincing as he placed his feet gingerly on the mattress and hissing when he made himself arch his hips up in order to slide his boxers and sweats over his hips, movements clumsy in their haste. His right arm was slowly regaining a normal feeling, but his fingers fumbled at the waistband, more like rubber than anything useful.

When he deemed himself decent once more, his eyes whipped to the man in front of him, fully intent on seeing him doubled-over in pain. Instead, he sat there on his knees, hands at his sides and curling along the mattress, bright brown eyes completely unharmed, face void of any pain. Naruto grit his teeth at the frustration of it. Slacks hung low on pale hips, and Naruto forced his eyes to stay level with a bright red gaze.

It wasn't fair, _It isn't fair! _Naruto thought, feeling the stinging pain in his backside and the dull, pounding ache in his arm. The sharp nips left behind tiny pains that ran along his neck, his lips, his chest, and there he sat, not an ounce of pain to weigh him down or remorse or anything, only a blank stare and unfounded superiority and--

Guilt.

Naruto blinked.

He didn't know how or why, but the word flashed across his mind like in image on a projector before flickering away and dying. And he saw it now. The way Sasuke's head was tilted downwards slightly, how he peered at Naruto through his lashes, somehow seeming to look up at him even though his gaze was at a much higher level. His shoulders were slumped slightly, and upon closer inspection, Naruto saw the pricks of dagger-like teeth protruding from his mouth. He was biting his lower lip. His arms were tilted backwards slightly, and he was resting on the balls of his heels.

"I'm sorry," his posture told him. "You know very well I can't control myself," said his eyes. Instant understanding, pieces of memory that he couldn't tell were his, made him dizzier than the loss of blood had. But Naruto understood, as if he'd learned it a while ago, as if he'd grown to accept it when he'd known this creature for only an hour.

_He can't help himself, _the decent, less sane part of his brain whispered, a part Naruto had never known existed. _Not with that much blood in him. He always gets carried away, he feels bad about it, just let him be and calm down. _Almost immediately after this, he thought, _And I know this how?_

"Get out," Naruto hissed, flattening himself further into the headboard for emphasis. Sasuke's eyes widened slightly, almost hurt, begging for him to understand. _I do, I do understand, just don't make me say that I do…_

And then, so quickly that Naruto flinched, Sasuke got up and off the bed, hands going down to fix his pants. Naruto turned his head quickly and fixed his stare outside the window. He could see the blurry outlines of abandoned houses with blackened and boarded windows, saw the smudges of graffiti like spilled highlighter ink over a black canvas. The sky was punctured with stars, and he tried to trace them but found he couldn't find a familiar pattern. An overwhelming burst of homesickness exploded like fireworks in the pit of his gut, and this time, he did swallow to keep from throwing up. He missed Sasuke, he missed home, but mostly, mostly--

He heard the vampire work at the wood by the fireplace, but he didn't bother to watch. He stayed silent, every now and then shifting his body to make sure all of his clothes were still on. He felt naked, still, but he was too tired and had too much pride to tuck himself in and hide under the covers. His feet were bare and cold, his right arm now full of what felt like hot cotton. His eyes and ears burned from the effort of not crying, and his throat was a mess, feeling knotted several times over.

The crackling and snapping of flame made him look over, and an ethereal orange glow outlined Sasuke so that he couldn't make out any of the man's features. He was prodding at the lit logs with an iron poker, sitting it down only a moment after Naruto began to watch. The blond blinked, confused. How did he get the fire so big after only a minute of tending to it? And then he was sitting back on his haunches, slipping something from his pocket and pulling it back over his hand. The glove.

_I missed it? _Naruto thought, almost disappointed. _When did he ever pull it off? He was just... touching me, and I didn't notice it?_

"I'm going to go make your lunch," Sasuke murmured, crossing the room at a steady pace, but his steps purposefully quiet. "This can't be good anymore…" He bent down and picked up the bag, the plastic crinkling loudly in the silence. The vampire looked up, meeting Naruto's eyes once more, looking for something the blond wasn't sure was there.

They remained in an awkward and tense silence for a time before, without a word, Sasuke left the room swiftly without even a glance over his shoulder.

_He's graceful. He looks it. Like an aristocrat. More than Sasuke, even. It's like water. It's disturbing. _The immature, yet incredibly strong, desire for the vampire to trip or stumble was crushed when he made it safely to the door, opening it and stepping outside before pulling it shut behind him.

Naruto tensed, waiting. He wasn't disappointed.

_Click_

His head made a dull _thud _as it hit the headboard and the flames made his blue eyes glow orange as he stared hard into the fire, trying his hardest not to think of either of them, only that the room was familiar in more ways than one, and that the fire was slowly beginning to heat the room.

--

**November 20, 2005**

"Remember, Sasuke, answer all their questions calmly. Calmly and rationally. Everyone's a suspect, you don't want to give them ideas." A grunt. "You know you have the tendency to fly off the handle. Don't do that now, Sasuke, especially not now. They're only trying to help." A snort. "I mean it, Sasuke--"

"Sakura, perhaps we should leave him be?"

The woman sighed, rolled her eyes, but nevertheless relaxed into the backseat of the car, eyes trained on the back of Sasuke's head. He was seated in the front passenger seat with her husband Lee behind the wheel, the green mini-van traveling at a steady forty-five miles down 611. Every now and then she caught Sasuke quirk his head to look at the speedometer, at which point the would snort in disgust and glare sullenly out the window. The sounds of his teeth grinding together was alarming. Sakura and Lee had both point-blank refused to allow Sasuke to drive home from the airport when he'd met them at the runway.

"You're not driving in your condition," Sakura had snapped, fists planted on her hips and head held high. "The speeding tickets you'll get us won't help a single thing. Now shut up and let Lee drive."

Lee pulled the car off a familiar exit, and Sakura inwardly thanked any sort of unseen deity that Sasuke and Naruto's home was so close. She didn't think Sasuke could stand to be in this car for ten more minutes. Even the five minutes they had left seemed too long. She feared the fate of every light they met, expecting combustion and feeling relief when they flashed green and their car rolled under them. Shino was quiet beside her, reading out of some kind of brochure, prescription sunglasses still over his eyes even though the day was a dark and gloomy one. The sounds of the pages flipping was the only sound in the car, in the tense and nearly unbearable silence.

Sakura frowned, resting her head on the glass of the window and allowing her eyes to droop slightly. It had been under 48 hours since Naruto had been missing, and already she'd been questioned by four or five different officers. All of their questions, she noticed, were linked in some way. They first questioned his lack of family until they pulled up his records and found all of his relatives certificates of death. Then they asked about enemies, and from there it all circled around one thing: his sexuality. Their college was fairly active in the gay rights movement, but the police had told her that wasn't a good thing. Schools like that, they told her, attracted a lot of unwanted attention from conservatives in the area.

She felt uncomfortable answering the questions, even the simpler ones, even with Lee at her side with a supporting arm around her shoulders, his hand in hers, fingers rubbing soothing patterns. She felt odd, like she shouldn't have been asking them at all. Why didn't they just ask Naruto himself? Sakura had thought multiple times. He's probably upstairs sleeping, just go wake him or Sasuke up, they'll be happy to give you all the answers that I don't know.

_He's gone._

And that fact slapped her in the face again and again and she never grew immune to the pain of it.

_He's gone._

_He's gone._

_But when is he coming home?_

_He must be lonely. He puts up a good front, but he must be scared. He has to miss home, he wants to come home, he wouldn't run away, not without saying good-bye to at least Sasuke._

Sasuke, sitting up there, head tilted back and eyes shut, face relaxed, fists tightened to hard she was sure the palms would begin to bleed. He gulped every now and then, his throat bobbing with the action, and every now and then his eyes would clench tightly.

_Why can't I be that strong? _Sakura wondered. _How can he not cry? How can he stop himself?_

A movement to her left caught her eye, and looking over, she saw that Shino was unfurling a wad of tissues from his pocket. Once he had, he handed one to her, eyes bland and mildly concerned behind his dark spectacles.

Sakura realized then that silent tears were running down her face.

As she wiped at them hurriedly with the tissue, avoiding looking into the rear view mirror from which Lee was no doubt looking worriedly at her, she caught sight of Sasuke's face again. His eyes were open, boring into hers with envy narrowing the corners, conveying only one simple message.

_Why can't I be that strong? Why can't I cry like you? What gives you that right?_

They pulled up to the house a few moments later. Sasuke didn't make a face, not a flicker of emotion danced across his face, at the sight of police vans parked across his lawn. He didn't acknowledge the familiar faces of neighbors and classmates he saw grouped together, some looking his way with pity, others being questioned by the police. The front door to the house was open, and without even shutting the car door or turning to speak to his friends, he strode briskly up the pathway and through the open door.

He could see the kitchen from where he stood at the mudroom, and instead of the usual mess of plates and silverware, there was a confusing network of wires running to box, to laptops, all being manned by men in crisp black uniforms. Keyboard clicked and rattled as they typed, wires were twitched into places and plugged in, all wires leading to the phone jack. To track the phone calls, he knew, but he didn't give that much thought.

_Naruto_

"Hey, kid," someone was saying. "You ain't supposed to be here."

"It's all right, he lives here," the familiar voice of Sakura was saying, even as he headed up the stairs.

"He the boyfriend?" were the last words Sasuke heard before he was out of earshot.

Sasuke stopped at the top of the stairwell, hesitating, looking towards the ajar room to their bedroom. He would go in there, and it would be empty. Naruto wasn't home, and he didn't know when, or if, he'd ever be back.

It was empty in there.

Thinking he couldn't possibly get any lonelier, Sasuke slowly made his way to the door. He pressed a hand against it, remembering opening it and seeing Naruto there, just laying on the bed reading, sleeping, watching TV, listening to a CD. He remembered pressing Naruto there before sliding to the floor, the bed too far away for their hurried tastes. He remembered everything, and he knew he wouldn't find any of that in there. But still, he hoped. There still remained the wild hope that this was a dream, and looking in there would dispel any slumber he was stuck in, get rid of this horrible waking nightmare. Something like this belonged on a crime show, in a book, not in his reality. Naruto missing did not belong in his reality.

He pushed open the door, and found himself to be very wrong. He could get lonelier.

The window was shut, but he could see from where he stood that the screen behind it was missing. There was a yellow tag stuck to it with the number "3", and on the pillow, a "2", the floor between the bed and window a "1". It looked like a murder investigation. The room smelled oddly, not like home, and didn't not look like his room. This was a sick, twisted game someone was playing on him, and he was not amused in the least. Things like this didn't exist. Things like things did not exist in his reality. Things like this were the kinds that drove people to insanity.

"Mr. Uchiha?"

Sasuke turned his head slowly and blinked. He stood in the middle of the room with no memory of ever having moved past the doorway, but he knew that odder things had happened that day. Under the threshold stood a portly cop who had the same voice he'd heard spoken before. His blue eyes were crinkled, but not in pity. Not even in sympathy. Just in understanding.

Sasuke nodded his head slowly.

"Mr. Uchiha, my name is Morgan Patrick, I'm with the police. If you have a few minutes, I have a few questions I'd like to ask, if you wouldn't mind." He was digging through his pocket, a notepad already in his hand, but pen absent. As he searched, he said, "We've already questioned your friends, but we'd like your account of it first. As you already saw, any phone calls coming to this house are being traced. We haven't gotten anything so far, but we're still waitin'."

Sasuke nodded his head, and as he waited, the turmoil in his head switched to the other direction. It was like a switch had been flicked. Suddenly, everything changed. The sadness, loneliness, all teetered over the edge and like the snowball affect, a huge, sweeping wave of anger drowned all other thoughts. "Why?" Sasuke murmured, gray eyes like chips of ice, trying to keep his teeth from grinding too hard.

"Hm?" the officer murmured, glancing up at him, finally having drawn a pen out from his pocket. He stepped closer, clicking the end of the utensil, a curious look in his eyes.. "Why what?"

"Why Naruto?" Sasuke elaborated. "He hasn't done anything to anyone. He goes to school he works a part-time job, he does charity work, he donated blood to the fucking Red Cross whenever he can… Why? What did he do to deserve---" His throat restricted, and he found himself unable to talk.

Officer Morgan sighed, eyes sympathetic yet firm, stained as they were by experiences far worse than a kidnapping. "That, Mr. Uchiha," he said, "is what we're trying to figure out."

--

**November 17, 2005**

"You pronounce my name oddly."

"What?"

Naruto was sitting cross-legged on the bed now, poking at the remains of food in his dish with a chopstick, doing his best to ignore the fact that it was beef stir-fry. It had cooled, but the smell tempted him to eat more of it. His stomach, however, was putting a firm foot down on the idea. And besides, Naruto wouldn't want the bastard to think he'd enjoyed it too much.

Said man was currently poking at the fire and adding into it a few more logs with an expertise Naruto figured he'd garnered from many, many years of experience. He tried hard not to think too much on his age, pretending that he was human was far better than losing his sanity and grip on reality. And in Naruto's reality, there was no such thing as vampires.

"When you were calling it out earlier," Sasuke began, trailing off.

"It wasn't your name I was calling and you know it," Naruto snapped.

"Tch, whatever, idiot," Sasuke replied testily. "Anyway, despite the fact that we appear to share a name, mine is pronounced differently." The way he said it made it sound like he was racist to a word pronunciation, _a word pronunciation, the fucking weirdo. _"It isn't _Soss-kay_. It's more like a _Soss-keh_."

Naruto blinked. "Are you seriously flipping out over a little name error?"

Sasuke stood up and shrugged, the fire once again blazing brightly behind him. "Of course. I wouldn't want you to call out the wrong name whilst making love."

Well, Naruto thought, where to begin with that? There were so many ideas to attack--the fact that his Sasuke was the 'wrong' one, the fact that the vampire assumed they'd be having any sort of consensual intimacy any time soon, or any time at all, the smug attitude--but he didn't get to attack any one of those points. While his lips formed useless and silent words, Sasuke sidled up to the bedside and pointed at the half-finished bowl. "Are you done with that now?"

Angry, he was angry, more angry than he was afraid, more enraged than he was sick and dizzy, and he went on instinct. He knew it was a bad idea, yes, Naruto knew that very well. But Sasuke was pushing him and pushing him and there was only so far back he could shrink into a corner before he rebounded in the most unpleasant of manners.

When Sasuke reached for the dish with his right hand, the shiny leather of the glove tempting him even further, Naruto's hand shot up and grabbed the vampire's. They both froze, and the dish remained still on the bed. Naruto squeezed, but felt no give under his grip.

Cold. It was stone cold. Like there was ice in the glove instead of a hand. Sasuke didn't pull back, merely winced, a slightly betrayed look entering his eyes. "You know I hate it when you do that."

"I don't know anything about you," Naruto replied, hand still squeezing. There was give, just in certain spots. There seemed to be one area in particular that felt like a glacier. The rest of the hand was stiff, but still, it felt like a hand. Not this.

"Then how did you know that gripping there would hurt me so badly?" Naruto's eyes snapped from the hand he held to Sasuke's calm, if not slightly annoyed, gaze. "I made you angry," he said blandly. "And you reacted by hurting me in return."

"I didn't want to hurt you," Naruto blurted quickly, not bothering to correct himself afterwards. It would make him look ridiculous, he knew, even more so than he probably looked now.

Sasuke sighed and to Naruto's slight alarm, turned his hand over easily in the tight grip and twined his fingers with the human's. "Yes, love, I know."

A blush, a hot one, flourished over his face brightly, and he yanked his hand out of Sasuke's. The vampire didn't stop him. He sat neatly on the bed, resting his hand palm-up on the bed staring at it as if contemplating it as well. They both stared for a long minute until, bored with the silence, Naruto reached for the hand again. This time, instead of cupping the palm, he followed the faint seam at the wrist of the glove until he found the end of it. He worked the zipper out. Sasuke didn't stop him. He tugged at it. The leather was soft like warm butter, and the glove separated just as neatly, until the tail of the zipper was at the tip of the pinky.

Naruto was slow to peel the leather off, revealing a pale white hand, skin the same as the rest of him. But there was something off. There was something a bit wrong, and in the dark, he couldn't see it. He was blocking the light, he realized, and he shifted back in his seat and tugged the lax hand onto his lamp, tilting it towards the light.

All the breathe, possibly all the oxygen, in his lungs and in his body left his mouth in one fail swoop.

It was far worse than the hypnotizing eyes. It was even worse than the lethal-looking fangs. It wasn't ugly, but so outlandish he couldn't help but stare in numbed disbelief. He ran a gentle finger over it, and whipped it back as if stung. It was really, truly there. Contacts could be added to change eye color, dentures could be used to mimic teeth, but nothing could create this.

The right portion of his hand, spreading from just below the knuckle to the wrist, creating a messy half-circle shape to the center of his hand, was stone. There was no mistaking it. Tiny little pores dotted the hard, solid-grey material and, turning the hand over as if it were a mere object and did not have any connection to an actual body, Naruto found it had created the perfect replica of the left side of the palm, although that portion was marginally smaller than that on the back of the hand. Where the skin met stone, the flesh was hard, like stiff rubber, becoming gradually smoother and softer when it reached the rest of the hand. Pressing it, there was so leeway.

_"Then how did you know that gripping there would hurt me so badly?"_

Once again, Naruto whipped his hand away, clenching it on his lap and staring down at it hard, eyes set resolutely away from the half-frozen appendage. It made him sick to look at. But not sick with repulsion.

Sick with pity.

And that was why when Sasuke rose his right hand to cup his cheek, he didn't shrink back. He flinched at the cold texture, but besides that, stayed where he was. He wouldn't, couldn't, cause any more hurt to fill those eyes. It was too cruel, he reasoned, to not only refuse to follow along with this madman's twisted vision, but to also refuse such a simple touch.

"Cold?" Sasuke asked.

"It's fine," Naruto said before he could stop himself. Still, Sasuke drew his hand away with a simple swipe of his thumb over the hollow under Naruto's eye, and picked up the discarded glove. He slid the skin-tight accessory over his hand with ease and zipped it up, hiding away the grotesque portion of his hand. He brought his hand back up, and this time, Naruto moved back a couple of inches, eyeing the hand wearily. The hand drew back immediately, if not slowly.

In a calm voice, Sasuke said, "You prefer my bare hand." It wasn't a question, simply a stating of a fact, like he was reading it out of a book. When Naruto failed to reply to that, Sasuke smiled gently. Another difference he noted between the two Sasuke's. This one, sadly enough, seemed to smile a lot more.

"You really are him," he murmured, eyes alight with warmth, happiness, and Naruto felt like speaking would be just as bad as refusing to be touched with the cold, stone part of his right hand. It would be like kicking a three-legged puppy in the face; horribly, horribly wrong.

"What is your favorite color?" Sasuke asked abruptly, and Naruto started so fast that he quickly answered with an, "orange." The smile changed, this time into a bit of a grin, almost a smirk. "I know."

Naruto scowled. The serious atmosphere was gone with just a few light-hearted words, and the blond couldn't feel better about that. He didn't want to know how Sasuke got such an injury. At least, he didn't want to know now. He wanted to sleep, first. He wanted to eat another meal before he subjected himself to more knowledge than he was ready for.

"It's not that hard to figure out," Naruto challenged, sticking his chin up. "I own lots of stuff that's orange."

He was definitely smirking now. "And what is mine?"

"Blue?"

"Yes."

"You could be lying."

"But I'm not. You know that I'm not."

Naruto rolled his eyes, and Sasuke rolled out another question. And another. And another. He answered them all, some more easily than others, noticing no particular pattern in any of them. He didn't know whether Sasuke was trying to prove something, or he was just making a poor attempt at subtly changing the topic. All Naruto knew was that Sasuke had scooted back so that there was a good two-foot distance between them, and he seemed to be making no move to change that. That was good enough for now.

--

**November 17, 2008**

Naruto shifted. Despite the coldness of the room, he found his pajama shirt to be sticking to him in several places. He'd been lying in the same spot for too long, and small pockmarks appeared in his skin where the folds of his clothes had created faint pink lines. He was highly aware that sweat had dried to his skin, and it was making him uncomfortably self-conscious. Sasuke had said he'd been out for nearly 24 hours, which meant he hadn't washed in well over a day…

_Wonder if he'll let me shower, _Naruto thought before catching himself. _No. I'll tell the asshole I want one. _His eyes drew down to his arm. The fang wounds had shrunken until they looked more like twin mosquito bites then half-healed thorn punctures. The whole arm itched, however, and his left hand burned to scratch at and aggravate the flesh. But just the thought of putting his nails, or anything, by those sickening blemishes made his mouth go sour and his blood curdle. No, he just wanted to run his arm under the jet of hot water, maybe gently massage some soap over it, and when it felt like an arm again, he'd scrub it raw.

Sasuke returned to the room a few minutes after Naruto had made his mind, carrying in his arms a bundle of heavy logs. The blond watched him dump them in front of the roaring fire, listening as he said, "This will last us throughout the day. I'll put a few in by the morning after dinner, and it should be fine until night."

Dinner at five in the morning. Naruto could hardly wait.

"Oi, bastard," Naruto said (he still refused to use the name he was given, even though it differed from his Sasuke's). When Sasuke glanced over his shoulder at him, he continued, "I want a shower. Did you say you had the plumbing running in this place?"

Sasuke frowned gently, standing up and brushing his hands off on the knees of his pants. "Yes. Did you want one now?"

Naruto rolled his eyes in an overly-exaggerated way. "No, I wanted one in a month. Yes I want one now, blockhead."

Instead of replying with an insult in kind, Sasuke smirked. Before the vampire would even open his mouth, Naruto was rushing out the words, "And no, I don't need any fucking help. You can stay in the room."

Sasuke grinned, mirth glinting in his hypnotizing eyes, and Naruto had to look away. With the fireplace at such an angle, the light cause his eyes to cast a red glare his way, the black comma-shaped patterns a harsh contrast to the rest of the iris.

"Come," Sasuke said, stepping over to the side of the bed and holding out a hand. "I'll take you."

"I'd be fine if you could just tell me what it was," Naruto grumbled. Ignoring the offered hand, he stood up himself, and immediately regretted moving so fast. His knees buckles, and for a second he thought he would crash to the floor. Sasuke's hands were there, a steadying grip, worried and guilty eyes staring down at him. The face was swathed in shadows, the eyes dark, almost black, almost grey…

Naruto grit his teeth and shrugged out of the older man's hold. He brushed past him, hands clenched in an uncomfortable way, footsteps wide and purposeful. He put every bit of strength and concentration that his exhausted mind and body could muster into his footsteps, determined to at least make it to the bathroom by himself. When he was out the door, he heard it click shut, and the almost silent footsteps of the vampire as he followed closely. Naruto wasn't sure if it was for his safety or for his stalker's own perverse entertainment, and he really didn't want to think too much on it.

Since the stairs were to the right, Naruto went left. There was a door to his right and then two to his left, the hallways ending in a dead end. Naruto frowned.

"Second door on your left," Sasuke provided, however needlessly; he sped up and walked in front of Naruto, gloved hand holding something out of sight. The blond didn't argue; he was still too busy focusing on his walking.

By the time he reached the threshold to the bathroom, leaning against the wall for support, vision once again beginning to float out of order, Sasuke was already there. The item in his hand was a box of matches, which he was now using to light three candles that were spread along the countertop. An eerie triple-shadow of yellow bounced and dances in the room, not brightening it, simply applying color. It was creepy, Naruto realized, or was that just the situation he was in?

"I'll be outside if you need me," Sasuke told him, the words coming out as more of a threat than a kind offer. Naruto rolled his eye, offering no response other than shutting the door in his face. Even though he knew that with everything he'd encountered so far in the house could only lead to only one possible conclusion, he felt compelled to try anyway. He jiggled the tiny knob embedded in the doorknob, attempting to lock the door. It jittered loosely, useless as any sort or barricade. Sighing, Naruto pounded his fist once on the door, an auditory warning for the man to stay out, before beginning to undress.

He slid his shirt to the floor first, then his soft dormitory pants. With one cautious look at the door (_I feel it, I feel him watching, screw solid, the door might as well be made of fishnet_) toed off his socks and slinked plaid boxers over his hips, thighs, knobby knees, letting them pool at his ankles before stepping out. He glances at the towels on the hook along the wall and then the ceramic sink to his left. Dark red and gold to match the rest of the bathroom, a sickening replica of his one at home. It was bare save for a blue cup, a tube of Colgate, and a blue tooth brush that looked near well his own. Upon lifting it and pushing at the bristles, he found that the brush was new as he was tired. He brushed his teeth first, avoiding looking in the mirror at all costs. He didn't want to see his reflection; he half expected to see someone completely different, to see this Sasuke's Naruto instead of his Sasuke's Naruto. If that made any sense at all, which he knew probably didn't.

After spitting the foam from his mouth and rinsing his face off with biting cold water, Naruto went about fixing himself warm shower. He held his fingers in the flowing water, feeling the warmth spread tingles up his heavy arm, before making it even hotter and twisting the knob, causing the water to cascade from the highly-mounted chrome showerhead. He waited until the steam made small mushroom clouds against the ceiling before stepping in, leaving the shower curtains partly open, half wanting the candlelight and half worried that the steam would cause the flame to flicker and die. His eyesight in the dark adjusted fairly quickly, but in this house, any aid to his senses helped.

He tilted his head back and stayed there, willing the skin-prickling heat to diminish any and all traces of nausea that still threatened to corrupt his body into a mangled corpse. Everything, everything, was hurting. His veins felt like live wires, too hot and too shaky to contain. His whole body was shaking, and clenching his muscles only helped so much.

_A month, _Naruto contemplated, still staring upwards. _I've subjected myself to a month of this Hell. What in the fuck was I thinking?_

When he felt his skin grow tight, and a glance at his hands told him that they were pruning, he turned to the wall on his right that held the porcelain shelves. It was odd not seeing a window there. At home, there was a smallish rectangular mirror from their second-floor bathroom that faced the house next to him. It was devoid of any curtain, as the thick elm that separated the two homes was more than a sufficient barrier for their comfort. For a second, he could see it, could almost see streams of moonlight come bouncing through. But then it was replaced by cold white, three oval bottles, and a pile of wash clothes.

Snorting quietly to himself, trying not to think, Naruto picked up a washcloth, flicked it open with a twitch of his wrist, and ran it under the water, his other hand reaching for the bottle of liquid soap. There was a bar there, but Naruto had always preferred this. It made more suds, he's reasoned before, but more importantly, it smelled nice. Oatmeal soap always smelled clean to him, and he squeezed a good amount into the cloth before beginning to wash himself.

It happened when he was done, when he was done ringing out the rag and when the last of the bubbles had swirled down the drain. It was when he was running a shaking hand through sweaty hair to wet it, when his other hand was reaching for the bottle of Dove shampoo. It slid from his slackened grip, shock and realization hitting him simultaneously, a second later the very familiar scent of his shampoo drifting into his nose. The full, never used bottle had a cracked lid now, and like thick white blood, the slick substance oozed and swirled lazily in the water, mocking him, mocking everything.

Naruto considered himself lucky he even made it to the toilet. The lid cracked loudly when it hit the back of the toilet, and Naruto's head tucked down as he vomited everything he'd eaten that night, and what felt like everything he'd eaten in the past month. He retched, and afterwards, sobbed dryly before throwing up some more. Everything was broken around him, his stomach was gone and he wasn't all too sure he wanted it back. His eyes burned and teared up, his face was burning, everything was fucking burning, he couldn't see, breathe, only cry and try to breathe like he'd forgotten how.

"Shhh, shh…" There was a towel around him, and soothing sounds in his ear. Hands were rubbing his back through the cloth, and the soft murmurs, the wordless noises, only increased when Naruto dry retched, nothing left in his stomach, and a huge sob tore through in its place. It hurt, burned, his throat would never be in one piece again.

The cool lip of a glass was pressed against his mouth, and the liquid sloshes messily down his chin. It pulled away, the corner of the towel was used to clean the sick off of his chin and face, and then the glass was back. This time Naruto managed a sip, spitting it out almost immediately after. He was forced to so this several more times until even he had to admit it no longer tasted like he had a week-old corpse curdling beneath his tongue. He was tugged away from the toilet and into a hard chest, white arms encircling him, tugging him deeper into the embrace. The cup was balanced on the countertop, the hand returned to cross his chest and stroke his hair behind his ears.

"Shh…"

Dove. Dove. Dove.

"D--"

"Shhhh."

He was lifted and carried from the bathroom, and he had to close his eyes to keep from losing himself completely. The battle against ferocious tears was lost, but the battle wasn't completely lost. They fell as silent as snow, salty as the Dead Sea, and the skin touch his ears and bare shoulder was only lukewarm.

Dove. Dove. Dove.

He was going to be sick for the rest of his life.

He wasn't deposited on the bed, as he thought he would be. Instead, Sasuke brought the two of them over to the fire place. Sasuke settled himself on the carpet and shifted Naruto until he sat comfortable in the crook of his crossed legs, Naruto's body tilted so that the side of his head remained on the vampire's shoulders. Hands stroked his side. Just when he thought he couldn't get any sicker. Realization, horrific realization, barreling into him at the speed of light. The toothbrush, the interior of the bathroom, the bed sheets, but most importantly, Dove, _fucking Dove_….

He had to get it out before it escaped him.

"D-dove," he stuttered out, breath catching on a million different fears, body shaking despite the heat the shower had left in his skin, the blazing warmth of the fire.

"Dove?" Sasuke repeated from behind him, bending his face so that they were eye-to-eye. "The bird?"

"No, you fucked up asshole," Naruto grit out, trying to force as much bite into the words as he could. In his state, it wasn't much. "The shampoo. Dove shampoo."

"Oh." A pause. A burning log released a pocket of air, and a shower of sparks illuminated the two in orange. "You're having a fit over shampoo?"

"How did you know I used Dove shampoo?"

Naruto felt Sasuke shrug his shoulders. "Because it was in your bathroom, moron."

That in itself should have been bad enough, but Naruto was positive that his assumption would prove to be a million times worse. "Sasuke--_my _Sasuke--uses that Pantene shit."

"Should I care?"

"Pantene is in the shower, too," Naruto explained as calmly as he could, trying to ration with himself that pushing himself out of Sasuke's arm, resulting in a head-on-collision with fire, was not a good idea. "How would you know which one I used?"

Sasuke froze. Naruto could practically feel the vampire's skin go colder.

A tree. There was a tree, right outside their window, now only an illusion to privacy, oh God….

"I--" Sasuke was caught up in too many words, it seemed, to come up with a timely excuse. He tripped over a few words until Naruto spoke.

"I don't care." Sasuke began to interrupt him. "Shut up. Just… shut the fuck up." He tried to shrink in on himself, away from Sasuke, but the arms drew him in even more tightly. Crying, he reasoned, was not for now. Later, not now, _The asshole's been watching me, I know that, but he's been watching me in the shower, he watched me shower. Just let me say this. _

"I don't care why you did it. I don't want to hear whatever bull shit excuse you come up with, because you'll make me believe you and I'll--" He stopped himself, a stab of fearing lancing his heart at the thought Sasuke had caught that slip. _How would I know that, how the fuck would I-- _And then, the question he really didn't want an answer to spewed from his mouth like vomit. "How long have you been following me?"

The answer was immediate. "About a month. I first saw you on your college's campus."

_I knew it. I knew there was something wrong with him. It was that it wasn't Sasuke at all._

"Shouldn't you be inside during the day?"

Sasuke snorted, seeming to assume that the storm had blown over without ever really hitting. "It was cloudy that day, you fool."

It was, Naruto remembered. He wondered if it would be cloudy that morning, and throughout the day. If it would be cloudy the day after that, and the day after that, and every day of a thirty-day-long death march. No sun for thirty days. And if Sasuke went back on his word, never again…

Gray eyes, hard as marble and with a hidden warmth only he could see, stared, welcoming, in his mind. Brown eyes as cold as winter, arms full of stolen warmth, continued to leech onto his heart, continue to draw out the energy Naruto no longer felt like he possessed.

"I want to go home," he whispered again. Maybe, if he kept saying it enough… "Let me go home."

The arms tightened. "This is home."

Naruto turned his face again, but a pale hand slid across his cheek and pinched his chin, turning his face so that level brown eyes could meet with tired blue ones. "This is home," he repeated firmly.

"It's not."

"It is. The sooner you accept that, the easier this all will be."

"Fuck you!" Naruto snapped, shifting once again in Sasuke's lap. The arms didn't embrace him any more tightly; they were already hard and steady restraints, enough to make any movement uncomfortable. Sighing, he tugged the towel more tightly around himself. It left his shoulders and legs bare, only covering from his elbows to mid-thigh. The warmth of the fire was welcome on his bare skin, but Sasuke's eyes were not. "Let me up," he demanded. "I want to get dressed."

"You'll get dressed when I give you clothes."

Somehow, it didn't seem like the vampire had meant it to sound insulting, but the fact that it did--"Oi, bastard, I said…"

"I heard you the first time. I'll give you a change of clothes later. It's easier to warm up without clothes on."

"Liar!"

"Shut up, you know I'm not," Sasuke scoffed. Before Naruto could say anything else in retaliation, he went on, "Besides, it's nothing I haven't seen before."

Flushing, Naruto looked away. "Says you." When Sasuke didn't say anything, the blond sighed. "Can I get off your lap? I can sit just fine on my own." Still nothing. Rolling his eyes, Naruto muttered, "Whatever," and made himself as still and uncomfortable looking as possible, watching the flames flicker on the iron grates.

Behind him, the vampire was silent.


	5. Prints on the Window

**November 23, 2005**

Sakura's fingers were pinching the bridge of her nose, her other arm folded across her chest and gripping the opposite elbow. She didn't want to say it, knew that saying it was a very, very bad idea. But then again, she'd known that leaving Sasuke alone last night had also been a bad idea. As it hadn't been to leave him alone the night before last, and the night before that. She knew that the police cars parked across the street were more than enough of a reassurance that nothing would harm Sasuke. It was the second side of their dual-purpose, however, that had her on edge, and had her taking peeks from the corner of her eye through the space between the living room curtains.

"No," Sasuke spat, looking tired of their argument already. "I told you, I'm not going. I don't like to repeat myself." She had the strong feeling that he'd pinned on that last part to try and save himself from sounding childish.

Sakura sighed heavily, wishing she'd brought Lee with her. If her words wouldn't work, maybe Lee's fists might. "Go back to school, Sasuke. You know Naruto would want you to."

Sasuke sneered at her. "You know that, huh?"

_He's suffering, _Sakura reminded herself, trying to soothe her already boiling temper. But it was fruitless, l throwing an ice cube into a forest fire and hoping that would put it out. Her mind had already gone haywire, and days of tense waiting, of anxious fear, had her stuck on edge. She tried to remind herself that however she was feeling, Sasuke would be feeling twice as bad. Perhaps worse. _He's suffering a lot. Think of how you'd feel if Lee were gone. I need to make allowances. _

"I know he wouldn't want you to failing college because of him," she said, biting back the words she really wanted to snap at him.

Sasuke snorted. "And I know he wouldn't. He doesn't give a shit about grades."

"He does too," Sakura said scathingly. "At least for yours, he does," she amended.

Sasuke stared at her, long and hard, making her shift uncomfortably. She'd had a crush on him once, she remembered. Remembered thinking that she was in love. She recalled wishing she'd see anything, any emotion, it didn't matter, reflect in his eyes when he turned his stare on her. Anything but that bland, bored expression that dulled his marble gray eyes. Now he was looking at her like he'd already decided on murder, and was now just choosing which instrument would be best to carry out the act. Sakura found she missed his bored look.

"Well," he said coolly, words like chips of hard, frozen iron, "he isn't here to worry about them, is he?"

He went back to staring into the cup of tea she'd made him upon her arrival. He was losing weight, she knew, and if it weren't for her daily visits, she doubt he'd eat at all. There were bags under his eyes that matched the shade of his irises, and she'd hug him if she thought he wouldn't throw her off. She'd stroke his hair, a trick her mother had taught her to soothe people, if she knew it wouldn't make him hurt more. And it was hard to resist the urge with him looking so forlornly into a simple cup of tea as if it had brutally stabbed his best friend while he was sleeping.

The tea has to be cold by now, she thought, before saying, "Sasuke, please." She gulped. She didn't want to say it, but if Sasuke wouldn't surrender… "Please, go to class. I don't care if you just sit there and doodle, or sleep, just. Just go. Go to class."

"No."

"Sasuke…"

"No."

"_Please_."

"No."

He was going to make her say it.

They sat in an uncomfortable silence for another few minutes before Sakura started speaking again, straining to keep her voice calm. Sasuke had gotten less sleep than her, but the gap wasn't that large. She was tired, tense, wrung out.

Sakura swerved herself a bit on the stool at the counter. She and Sasuke sat side-by-side, her staring at him, him staring into his much with twice the intensity. Swallowing painfully, she began.

"Did you know… Did they tell you…." Sakura couldn't figure out a good way to start such a conversation, so she decided to skip the preliminaries. "I talked with the police the day before you came home. I told them that Naruto hadn't answered his phone since the day that you left, the fifteenth, so they think that he went--missing the day that you left."

Sasuke was quiet, not even flinching. Sakura continued, knowing that he was paying at least a bit of attention to her. "The last people to see him were those in his eleven o'clock class. No one remembers seeing him after that. And they, erm, talked to Shino." He glanced at out of the corner of his eye. "He told me you didn't arrive at the airport until around six."

Sakura waited, long enough for Sasuke to get the hint that there was an unspoken question glued on at the end of that statement. "When Shino and I got to the airport," he said slowly, "around 11:30, they told us that the flights were delayed by at least three hours. I…" he paused, almost as if contemplating the usefulness of going any further, before continuing, "I hate waiting. So I left."

"Where did you go?" Sakura asked softly.

"Out." Sasuke shrugged one shoulder lightly. "A café for lunch. A book store for a few hours."

"Can… anyone confirm that?"

Sasuke was looking at her fully now, gaze half murderous, half ominously curious. "Why," he hissed, "would anyone need to confirm anything about me?"

Sakura worried her bottom lip for a moment or two before saying, "Well…. Sasuke, there are many reasons why a person kidnaps another person--Shut up, Sasuke, for once, shut up and listen to me--and among those reasons, there are three main ones. There's ransom, which the police have already ruled out--no one's called for anything, and you've plenty of money. There's kidnapping for personal reasons--for company, for love, something they've also ruled out, seeing as you two have been living together for so long."

Comprehension began to dawn on Sasuke's face, and it was probably shock alone that kept him form interrupting.

"The third reasons would be--well, murder."

The tea cup slid from Sasuke's lax fingers, and lukewarm tea pooled quickly over the countertop before leaking over, splattering over the legs of Sasuke's pants, but he didn't notice.

"They think…" he murmured slowly, face falling even further than where it had already been. "They think someone killed him?"

Sakura ignored the last question. She had to say it before she lost all nerve. "They combed this house, especially your room, for any kind of evidence. But the only fingerprints were yours and Naruto's, the only hairs were yours and Naruto's. No blood, no sign of struggle. The only reason they think he didn't just walk out on his own was the chloroform on the pillow and the screen that the kidnapper pulled off the window."

Sasuke was silent. She wasn't even sure he was listening, perhaps too hung up on the word 'murder' and how the word had slipped into his perfectly normal life. She couldn't entirely blame him if he was.

"There were… prints on the window, Sasuke. Prints from the outside."

A twitch of emotion over Sasuke's lax face. Anger. "So use them."

"They are." There. She said it. But it didn't make her feel any better, especially when she realized that Sasuke didn't understand. He did not _understand_.

"Then what's the problem? Why hasn't anyone told me?"

Sakura slumped in her seat. She waited until her face was sufficiently buried in her hands before saying, "Sasuke, the fingerprints are _yours._"

A moment's pause. "I thought you said outside of the window."

"I did."

Another pause, this one not so long. "So someone's framing me." He seemed oddly calm, and Sakura didn't want to even guess at the emotion that was forming him into such a complacent state.

"You can't forge a fingerprint, Sasuke."

"How did you learn all of this?"

Sakura bit her lip. As adverse as she was to the idea of breaking any kind of law, she had to admit to this one. "I was eavesdropping on the investigators from inside the living room. It was after you left for the police station, after you gave them your prints. I opened the window, just a bit to get some fresh air--I don't know what they were using to check for prints, but it smelled horrible--and I heard them talking about it.."

Still calmly, like he was trying patiently dissect what he already knew was a badly planned prank. "And they don't think that our neighbors wouldn't notice a fully-grown man sneaking into his own house via the upstairs window? When I have a key to the house?"

"Your neighbor is a seventy-year-old woman. I don't think she spends much time staring out the window to see what you're up to. There are a lot of ways that they could go with this, Sasuke. You could be trying to make it look like someone else did it."

"And why not the first floor window?"

"You have locks on those during the day time. Naruto--" Sasuke winced minutely, "told me a while ago. He said you were paranoid." The little jibe didn't seem to go over very well, judging by the tightening of his features, so she hurried on. "There weren't prints on the outside of any of the other windows. Only you know which window had broken locks."

"Are you blaming me?" Sasuke spoke, voice barely above a whisper, anger slipping into each syllable.

"No!" Sakura cried, and even she realized that she'd said that far too fast.

He glared harder. "You are. And so are they."

"Shut up, Sasuke, no one's blaming anybody yet," Sakura snapped. "But if you want to keep from becoming a suspect, you have to see it from their perspective. A homosexual man with a history in the psychiatric ward, showing paranoid tendencies, sees a threat to someone he loved. The police find chloroform on a pillow, indicating that he's _still alive _somewhere, and we have the psychotic lover who was mysteriously gone during the time of the alleged kidnapping. Damnit, Sasuke, don't you see? Either you did it or someone else did who knows you and Naruto, who knows your entire house, far too well. Can't you think of _anyone_? You know Naruto better than anyone, you'd know if he had some kind of enemy. You keep tighter tabs on him more than anyone, even Naruto, knows, you have to know someone! Someone who knows your house, your rooms, someone who knew you'd be gone. Someone, _anyone, _just a name and it'll keep the police off your back."

Sasuke remained impassive throughout her small speech, but when the last words left her mouth, the frigid look he sent her way cut her off before she could continue. "Firstly," Sasuke said, "realize that whatever handle you think you have on the dynamics of our relationship is far more weak than you think it is. Naruto can take care of himself; he doesn't need me stalking his shadow. And secondly, why should I give a damn about what the police think? They have no ground on which to arrest me."

"They _do, _Sasuke," Sakura pressed, ignoring for now the harsh insult he'd just threw at her. She'd fret over it later, if at all. "Or they will, soon. He's been missing for nearly a week, and your keeping yourself holed up in here won't help. They'll think you're sneaking out to him or contacting someone who does have him or--" She cut her own self off this time, taking a moment to scrutinize the new look on Sasuke's face. Did he get it? Did he finally get it?

Sakura sighed, and stared into her own cup of tea. It must be cold by now, stone cold. "What I'm trying to say," she murmured, pushing herself away from the countertop and standing up, "is that you need to stay in the public eye until they either find Naruto, or find evidence that points to anyone but you."

Sasuke didn't lift his head to follow her retreating path. His eyes didn't so much as twitch in her direction.

"It's noon," she murmured, glancing quickly at the digital clock on the over. "You have a two 'o' clock class. Go to it."

Again, Sasuke didn't respond. He gave no indication that he would do it, or even that he was listening. He just stared, gaze some place too far away to properly focus on her.

She sighed again, bit her lip, turned on her heel, and left.

**November 17, 2005**

Naruto couldn't remember the last time he'd been sick. It must have been some time before he was ten, because he remembered one of the sisters at the orphanage had cleaned it up, a scalding tone in her eyes. Even then it had only been a twenty-four hour bug, gone by the time he sat down for breakfast the next morning. The reminder of the feeling left his stomach rolling in nausea, adding to the throbbing headache and the watery feeling in his limbs. In a roundabout way, he felt like shit.

Sasuke was gone for the moment, carrying Naruto's uneaten dinner ("Dinner, asshole? It's five in the fucking morning!") back down to the kitchen, and Naruto remained alone on the bed. The roaring flames were casting fascinating, rippling patterns across the walls and the floor, and illuminating the picture frames on the mantle so that they glowed orange. Twice Naruto had considered getting up to go and look at them. Twice he'd shot down the idea. And both times, his eyes had been drawn, like magnets, to the shattered picture frame on the floor to the left of the bed. The glass glistened like opals of hot magma, making the picture beneath it too warped to see properly. Naruto was glad of this; he was half-convinced he hadn't really seen what he'd thought he'd seen. Whenever the image popped into his head, he quickly reverted his attention back to something else--the dead lamp, the alarm clock that was exactly like the one at home, the fuzzy outlines of houses he saw outside. Anything, as long as he didn't think of _that._

With all of the pain his head was causing him, and the rising upset in his stomach, Naruto was surprised at how tired he was. He was beginning to suspect that the reason his body felt so weak was because of exhaustion, not blood loss.

He rubbed absent-mindedly at his right arm where Sasuke had sunk his fangs in just a few short hours ago. When he'd changed into the clothes Sasuke had gotten for him, he took careful note of his arm before he slipped his arms through. It was like a mosquito bite had struck twice some time in the night. It made him mad, almost. He wanted some sort of wound, some proof of the pain, to back up his utter hatred of the vampire he could hear bustling around downstairs.

Curious as to just how fast the bite was healing, he rolled up the sleeve of his shirt and stretched out his arms so that the light form the fireplace reflected off the twin bumps. What was left of them, anyway. Naruto couldn't even notice a color different between the healing pockmarks and the rest of his skin.

"I don't believe it," he muttered, staring carefully, twisting his arms a bit to see it from a different angle.

"Believe what?"

It was a commemoration to the fact that he was getting used to abrupt appearances that Naruto didn't even flinch. He didn't answer as he continued to survey his arm.

He felt the mattress sink a bit below him, and then an icy hand was pulling his arm away from him. Smooth leather glided over the puncture wounds, and Naruto was surprised to find that it didn't hurt in the slightest.

"It's healing nicely," Sasuke told him, gripping his arms a bit more tightly.

Naruto yanked it out of his grip, rolling his eyes. "Does it always?" he asked, curious despite himself.

Sasuke shrugged, nonplussed. "Not really. Most people will wake up in the morning with bumps on their arms. They think it was a bug in the middle of the night."

Naruto wanted to say something, something along the lines of, "They weren't that far off", but stopped himself. All through their question and answer session earlier, Sasuke hadn't let Naruto slip in a single question of his own. He planned to remedy this immediately.

"Do you do that often?"

"Do what?"

Naruto glared.

Sasuke sighed. "I may not be human, but I do need to eat." He shifted himself higher on the bed, leaning back on his arms. "I usually feed once or twice a week during the spring and summer. Three or four times during the fall and winter."

"Why more in the winter?"

Sasuke shrugged again. Although his body was reclined in an almost lazy fashion, his eyes were sharp and alert. "To build up strength. It raises less suspicions when I do it during the colder months. People wake up dizzy and with a headache, pass it off as a cold, and go about their business. Of course…" His nose wrinkled. "The blood's a bit more sour if they really are sick…"

When Sasuke didn't say anything more, Naruto asked another question. "Don't people notice when you start gnawing on their arm? That fucking _hurt._" Sasuke smirked. "I'm serious, asshole."

His smirk grew slightly more pronounced, and when he reached his ungloved hand out to touch Naruto's neck, the blond man shifted back, glaring balefully at him. "Stop being such a baby, you fool," Sasuke said. Then, in a slightly softer tone, he said, "I won't hurt you." The unspoken 'for now' hung in the air heavily, like thick and toxic smog, but Naruto didn't move again as cold fingertips glanced his neck, tracing until they found the pressure point there. Pressing in slightly, Sasuke said, "They're never awake to feel it."

Naruto shifted back a bit, and the vampire's hand slid away from his neck, returning to help prop up Sasuke's body.

"That can't keep them out for long," Naruto said. "You can't tell me you never made one mistake. Don't they wake up?"

"I wouldn't know. I leave immediately after I'm done."

A blond eyebrow shot up. It didn't seem odd to him that Sasuke would leave right away, but the way he worded deepened his curiosity.

"Why?"

"Always 'why'. Aren't you ever satisfied with the answers I give to you?"

It was Naruto's turn to smirk. "No."

Sasuke sighed, but he didn't look annoyed. Worried would be a better-fitting word. "You know what happens after I drink blood. It gets uncomfortable, remaining in the same room with them."

Naruto froze. He did remember. Realization dawned on him, and in a voice that cracked, said, "Please don't tell me that you try to rape them, too?"

"Of course not!" Sasuke hissed, finally provoked into anger. "Like I'd want to touch their filthy--"

"But you said that--"

"I said it's uncomfortable. I can't help myself, not when there's so much warm blood running through my system, I told you that."

"You didn't tell me shit!"

"I did. Just because you have poor memory, doesn't mean you should blame me."

Naruto snorted and, before he could think the words through, said, "Yeah, forgetting after a century constitutes as my fault. I definitely get it." He hadn't realized what he said until he realized that the anger had faded from the vampire's face, and it was now flush with rich smugness. It radiated out of every pore. "I'm not saying I remember you telling me, bastard, I'm just saying--"

"Hn. Whatever, moron." Sasuke shrugged his shoulders back, stretching like a pleased feline. Naruto couldn't think of anything to say to the cocky man that wouldn't dig himself even further into a hole, so for once, he remained quiet, glaring in silence.

A few minutes ticked by in which Sasuke studied the ceiling and Naruto studied him. They really were exactly the same, Naruto thought again, still incredulous to the discovery. The size of the Adam's apple against a pale throat, the way his shoulders fit the long-sleeved shirt he wore, the angle and curve of his jaw, the shape of his ears, the shade and style of his hair.

He was studying his eyebrows, trying to find even the smallest difference between them and the ones he remembered when Sasuke returned his gaze to him, a heated look in his burning eyes.

"You know," he murmured, "I remember you not minding the after-blood lust the last time."

"What!?" Naruto sputtered, face going up in flames and his blue eyes flashing. "There was no last time!"

He was smirking again. "There was. There were many last times, in fact." He began to grin, and Naruto could see his fangs between the gap in his lips. "I distinctly remember you looking forward to those nights when I went to feed. When I'd creep through your window when I was done. It was a bit romantic, don't you agree? To be taken by a vampire in the moonli--" Sasuke never got to finish his sentence, his face suddenly full of pillow.

Naruto tried to get off the bed, but his knees shook when he tried to stand. Sighing, he sank back into a slouch on the mattress. Exhaustion made his head spin even more at the motion, and he hardly noticed the dark chuckle from behind him. He glanced at the clock, and then out the window, squinting. It was nearly six 'o' clock in the morning, and the sky outside the window was beginning to lighten. They would be sleeping soon, and he wondered if he would maybe wake up before Sasuke, to try another escape attempt. It might be a useless effort, he knew. Sasuke always woke up before him, smiling as the last of the light died behind the curtains.

Then the vampire was sitting next to him, eyes looking out the window. Naruto wondered how long he'd been sitting there. There was a definite lighting of the black sky outside.

"Are you ready to sleep?" Sasuke asked.

"No." _I'm not sleeping anywhere near you._

"It was a rhetorical question." Sasuke was getting up now, crossing the short distance between the bed and the window. He pulled the one curtain to meet halfway, and then pulled the second one until it overlapped the first one by two feet. Naruto then took notice of the odd position of the bars that held the curtains. They were nailed to the wall more than a foot above the window, and were doubled to allow the curtains to cross over each other.

Sasuke was using thin ropes that were sewn into the edge of one curtain to tie to the one behind it, double and triple knotting until there were ten rows of rope sewing the curtains shut. When Sasuke started tying them to the small eyelet hooks in the walls and the ground, Naruto had to roll his eyes.

"Paranoid much?"

"You know I can't risk any sunlight in here," Sasuke muttered, seeming to only be paying Naruto with half an ear. "It isn't worth the risk."

"Then go read or something in another room with no windows. Problem solved."

Still speaking in an absent-minded manner, Sasuke said, "I'll be sleeping in here, with you."

There were two things wrong with that, Naruto thought. He chose to go with the first one. "You sleep?"

"Of course I sleep."

"Vampires sleep? Isn't your body frozen or something?"

"'Frozen'?" Sasuke repeated, chuckling. He finished tying the last knot and stood to survey his work. "'Frozen' or not, I still need to sleep. I get tired, just like humans do."

"But _why_?"

"Sleep isn't for physical restoration, you know," Sasuke told him. (1) "No one knows what it's for, just that they need to sleep. Theoretically, you could keep yourself awake for your entire life and never suffer from a sickness. But, of course, you'd pass out before you could reach the end of a month.

"So are you done with your questions, now?"

"Yeah, I'm done. I just have one more thing to say."

"And what's that?" Naruto was about to say it when Sasuke stepped towards him, unbuttoning his shirt as he went.

Naruto was back up against the headboard in half a second. "What the fuck are you doing _now_!?"

"Stop freaking out, moron," Sasuke chided. Finished with the unbuttons, he slid the shirt off of his shoulders. "It's getting old."

"Put your fucking shirt on, you damn pervert!"

"I dislike sleeping with a shirt on."

"And that's another thing!" He practically growled when Sasuke slipped onto the bed and folded down the sheets, his hand reaching under the pillow, presumably to shift it to a better position. Naruto shuddered at their close proximity, imagining that he could almost feel the cold seeping from Sasuke's skin, even with the distance between them. "I don't know where you're getting the crazy idea that we're sleeping together, but--"

_Click_

"Huh?" Something cold and hard had clicked snugly around his wrist. Naruto blinked at it, not quite understanding, before he yanked his handcuffed hand as far away from the headboard as possible.

But Sasuke didn't bother trying to trap him to the headboard. Instead, the other cuff went around his left wrist, trapping the two together with less than half a foot of chain.

"_What the fuck is this!?_"

"Those," Sasuke said patiently, "are handcuffs. I can't have you waking up and untying the curtains."

"I wouldn't fucking bother with that! I'd get the hell out of here!"

"Yes. I can't have you doing that, either."

Naruto growled in frustration, getting ready to demand the key, when Sasuke clenched the chain of the handcuffs and pulled. Naruto was toppling forward the same time as Sasuke reclined his position, lying flat on the bed. For one moment, Naruto was atop Sasuke, pressing the vampire into the bed, dark eyes and pale lips so close to his, so familiar and so frightening that his heart stuttered out of sync, and then he was pushed the rest of the way and he was on the right side of the bed.

Before he could get another word out, Sasuke silenced him. "I'm tired," he said, shifting his legs so that he could crawl beneath the sheets before pulling them up and over Naruto's body. "And so are you. It's time to sleep."

"Fuck no! Unlock these damned things! I'd rather sleep on the couch!"

"No. I can't let you out of my sight."

Naruto growled and tried to yank his hand away, but Sasuke's arm remained glued to the bed. The sharp steel dug into the tender flesh of his wrist, making him wince.

Sasuke eyed him condescendingly. "You'll only hurt yourself doing that," vampire informed human. "Just lay down and get some rest. We can fight more in the nighttime."

Naruto snorted, but didn't make any move to leave the bed. Not that he could, anyway. His body was too tired to struggle, and the mattress felt amazingly comfortable underneath his weight. Sasuke was laying on his right side, left hand stretched out to meet with Naruto's between their two bodies. Although Naruto couldn't help but acknowledge the fact that Sasuke having rolled them in this direction would prevent any limbs from falling asleep, the fact that they were chained together at all brought up an indignation so strong that is over-shadowed all else.

Bright blue eyes darkened, and a tiny smirk flitted across his lips.

Sasuke sighed, shutting his eyes and relaxing into the mattress. Across from him, Naruto was finally quiet. The room was still faintly aglow from the fire, but the heavy curtains affectively blocked out the light from outside. Time seeped by slowly, and after ten minutes of trying to keep his breathing even, Sasuke began to drift off to sleep. He relaxed further and--

_Kick_

Sasuke jumped slightly. Naruto mumbled something that sounded like an apology, and then was still again.

Frowning slightly, Sasuke concentrated once more on evening his breaths. He began to slip further into a light doze, the world growing pleasantly fuzzy, and then--

_Kick_

There was no half-coherent apology this time. Sasuke clenched his eyes shut, and he waited for a few minutes. Sure enough, another sharp jab to his shin roused him from his drifting state.

"What is it, Naruto?"

"Nothing."

"Go to sleep."

"You know what? I don't think I really want to."

_Kick_

"If you don't stay still I will hunt up some rope and tie you to the bed."

"Then I'd just rock the mattress."

Sasuke tried shifting farther away, but Naruto just scooted back into kicking range. Smirking, and without opening his eyes, Sasuke said, "Naruto, if you really want to be that close to me, all you need to do is ask."

Without so much as a pause, Naruto quickly retreated back as far as the handcuffs would allow. Smelling a final victory, Sasuke closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep once more.

--

_Rock_

"What is it that you want from me?"

"You know, if you went to sleep in another room, we wouldn't be having this problem right now."

"Nice try. Now shut up. The very sound of your voice is grating on my nerves."

"_Dick_."

--

A quiet groan.

_Kick_

A heavy sigh.

_Shove_

"_What_?"

"You're on my side of the bed. Get the fuck back to your own side."

"We don't have sides, idiot."

"Then get out of my space!"

"Stop being such a woman. Are you so dainty that you'll complain about a little invasion of personal space?"

"I'm not fucking dainty and I'll complain about whatever the Hell I want to! Like your hair. Your hair's too damn long. And you call _me _the woman."

"Go to sleep."

"Bite me, Count Dracula. No…. wait, wait, don't you fucking--NO, I didn't mean it like---No! AH!"

--

"…fucking… bastard…"

Sasuke licked his lips, lapping up the last droplets of blood that remained there. "Stop whining. I didn't bite down hard."

"F-fuck… you… and keep your… shit… horny self… on your side of the bed…."

Sasuke chuckled. "As you wish."

--

_Kick_

"You know what, moron?"

"What, fucktard?"

"I don't think you've lost quite enough blood."

"…keep those things away from me."

"Go to sleep, Naruto."

**November 18, 2005**

"Under this bed is a bottle of chloroform. I am ten seconds away from getting it and knocking you out into next week."

"…"

"Are you going to behave, now?"

_Kick_

_"Naruto_."

"I'm sleeping, I'm sleeping. Prissy bastard."

"Sleep well, Naruto."

"Die in your sleep, asshole."

**(1) This is actually true. Scientists have conducted many experiments on sleep patterns, and some of them tested the physical restoration, or lack of it, after so much or so little sleep. A person never got ill or were harmed in any way after lack of sleep. Physically, at least.  
**


	6. Dreams

**November 26, 2005**

Sakura had told him that it would be best if he were to stay in public eye for the time being. Sasuke wasn't quite sure what constituted as 'public eye', but he figured that a simple trip to a local hardware shop would be public enough.

There was no real reason to leave his house. The police officers hadn't made an appearance since yesterday afternoon, and his parking lot remained depressingly vacant.

But there was a dead bulb in the kitchen, something he'd discovered upon flicking the switch earlier on in the afternoon. It gave a sharp sound like a hornet hitting a red hot sheet of iron, flickered once, twice, and died. Hence the impromptu trip.

Public eye, Sasuke thought, was a loose term.

And lately, so was living.

The lights along the streets bobbed along his vision like drunken fireflies, distorting everything into a real-life Picasso painting. Staring at the bright patchwork of colors made his eyes hurt, so he focused instead on the dark sidewalk beneath his trainers. It was safe. None of the streaks of light could destroy the mundane, colorless pavement, and he counted the cracks, avoided stepping on them, stepped on them on purpose every now and then.

He'd left his wallet and his house keys in the bowl on the coffee table, and his hand was curled loosely over a wad of one dollar bills, maybe a five or a ten thrown in there somewhere. Sasuke doubted a single light bulb would cost that much, but he also wanted to grab dinner while out. The only time he'd eaten meals at his home was when Sakura stopped over and cooked for him, her emerald eyes guarded, hiding what Sasuke could only guess to be a mixture of pity, sadness, a bit of anger.

And suspicion.

The wire tapping equipment had been removed from his kitchen the same day that he stopped seeing a black and white car with a bar of dead lights outside of his window. The team of detectives pinned to the case had dropped the ransom option, and were currently hounding the orphanage for names of people who'd taken Naruto in as a foster child before the boy had gotten himself emancipated.

Sasuke wondered how long it would be before they dropped that option, too, and turned to the only one they had left.

Was it Sherlock Holmes who'd said that when all other possible options were eliminated, the last option was the answer?

Perhaps it was irrational, but for the last few days, Sasuke harbored the malicious urge to burn every single mystery book that was unfortunate enough to be within a ten-mile radius of his person.

How long do they keep looking for a missing person?

A missing person who isn't even a child?

A parent-less, white, gay man with no spectacular accomplishments or ambitions?

How long do they keep looking for a person like him before they move on to the blonde, pig-tailed six-year-old of some greeting-card perfect family that would grab far more attention from the media?

How long?

_How long?_

Sasuke was stubborn, but he wasn't dense, and he wasn't a fool. He knew an eye was constantly trained on him, and would be until he died, Naruto died, or Naruto was found. Unfortunately, the only desirable option seemed to be becoming less and less an option with each blank hour of his life.

His destination lay in sight when he rounded the fourth city block outside of his development, but he made no move to quicken his steps. He strolled at a dead, leisurely pace, the heels of his shoes scraping against the concrete, shoulders dipping down and hands in his pockets. His breath fanned out before him before whipping past his cheeks and trailing out behind him like a path of vapor. Although the day had been sunny, tomorrow was when weather forecasters predicted would b the first snow fall of the window. The sky had darkened ominously by the time three 'o' clock rolled around, and Sasuke suspected that the sky the next day would be hard and gray as stone.

When Sasuke opened the door to Fix 'n' Things, it was to find the store mostly empty save for the elderly assistant manager who was shuffling through a messy pile of paperwork behind the register. Sasuke never quite knew how to categorize the place. It was like a CVS, only with hardware. The town housed a lot of young people who commuted to one of the three colleges that were nearby, thus the stores in the area were keyed to a lower budget. This place was like the retarded lovechild of Home Depot and Walmart; small, dinky, unorganized, and with a lot of things that didn't belong in a hardware store like boxes of sodas, candy, a section of manga books, a small selection of electronics, and canned goods.

When the small bell that hung above the door rattles in a rusted kind of way, the woman, Miss. Jekyll, looked up in surprise. Sasuke could see why. It was quarter to eight at night, and this store closed in fifteen minutes. She probably hadn't had any customers in well over an hour.

Slowly, a cautious smile crept onto her face, and Sasuke gulped back a heaving sigh of frustration.

_Of course she's heard about Naruto_, he thought bitterly as he stared straight into her steely gray eyes that were busy studying his face for what he could only assume to be some sign of a mental breakdown. _Who in this damn town hasn't?_

"Evenin', Sasuke," she said, the sweetness in her voice sounding surprisingly genuine. "What brings you here so late at night?"

"Light bulb went out," was his short reply. He swept past her, not in the mood for conversation, although he knew this women too well to expect her to leave him alone. Naruto had dragged her over for dinner once or twice, and she talked almost as much as his lover had.

_Had._

_Had._

"How've you been?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Have the police found anything' new?" It was something he appreciated about her, that for all her talking she didn't spend it beating around a bush.

"No." He'd found the aisle that contained electronic appliances and his eyes scanned the products for light bulbs.

Miss Jekyll cleared her throat. "They're over here, son."

Sasuke blinked. She was pointing at an area he'd walked by not five seconds ago. He strode over to where her finger pointed, and began to stare at them without interest. "Thanks." He didn't feel much like eating anymore, but he still didn't feel like going home. It wouldn't be fair to dwindle around here while Miss Jekyll was trying to close up.

"Any specific kind you were lookin' fer?"

"Not really."

"What kine' of watt?"

_I don't care. _"I don't know."

There was a long silence in which Sasuke counted the gaps in the metal framework and Miss Jekyll shuffled around the store, moving products this way and that, but never straying far. Sasuke didn't remove his hands from his pockets to pick anyone or even read the casing. He simply stared and didn't want to go home.

"How's yer new alarm clock turning out?" Miss Jekyll asked awkwardly after a long minute of silence, seemingly trying to scrabble at straws that would tie up the loose ends of an equally awkward conversation.

"My alarm clock," Sasuke repeated blandly, not in the mood to take pity on her well-meant stab at conversation. "I--" he couldn't bring himself too say 'we', "--bought it over the summer. I hardly call that 'new'."

The shopkeeper looked confused. "Did you forget?" she asked. "You came in just a few weeks ago to buy a new one. The same exact one, too. Na--Someone threw at the wall, you said. Broke it."

This sounded completely normal. Naruto had a bad habit of throwing the alarm clock at the wall or smashing it against the edge of the bedside table when his muddled brain couldn't sort out the method to turn the wretched thing off. Eventually Sasuke had moved it to the other side of the bed so that Naruto would have to climb up and over Sasuke to reach it. Which he did, of course, but it gave Sasuke enough time to shove the blond off the bed and turn it off the proper way. They were college students, after all, and therefore couldn't afford to pay to replace every alarm clock Naruto felt the urge to go Hulk on. Sasuke had even duct taped the wire to the back of the table, leaving no room to properly smack it into the wall. It had proved successful; they'd managed to keep this clock for nearly five months.

Sasuke would most certainly remember if it had broken.

"It must have been someone else," Sasuke muttered, turning back to face the aisle. There were five brands of light bulbs in several different levels of wattages. What was the difference between 60 watts and 100? Would that blue glass tint the light aqua? If that black light didn't turn his room to midnight at noon, would they give his money back or call the funny farm?

"It can't have been." She didn't know when to quit, Sasuke thought angrily, feigning interest between the brands Patsonic and Clicque. "Son, no one could get hair like yers in a million years. Same face, same hair, even mentioned Na--his name once-er twice."

_Just shu--_

_…what?_

Sasuke had been removing a back of three 80 watt bulbs from its hook, and although he knew the package was light, it now felt fifty pounds in his sweating palm.

"It looked just like you," she reaffirmed. "You probably forgot."

"It couldn't have been. My clock is still taped to the table." Miss Jekyll gave him an odd look at that, but he hardly registered it. "Are you sure it was me?"

"Sure it was, son." She was looking worried again. And again, this didn't register in Sasuke's mind at all. "You said that Naruto broke it again," she repeated, as if confirming with herself her own thoughts.

"And I bought the exact same clock."

"Same one. You even asked if it was the same one ya bought earlier."

_What?_

Miss Jekyll was fixing him with a pitying stare now. "It's all right, son," she said. Her hand twitched at her side, as if she wanted to clasp him on the shoulder her place a comforting hand on his arm, but she didn't. "Yer under a lot of stress. It's natural. Don't get hung up on something like this."

Sasuke didn't forget anything when stressed. He hardly forgot anything at all, ever. He remembered every fact, every date, every formula for exams that may very well determine his future. He remembered what his living room looked like before it was coated in blood. He could remember nearly every word his brother had said to him before Itachi swallowed the muzzle of a gun.

Sasuke didn't _forget_.

"Sasuke?"

He shoved the light bulb package back, and it toppled to the floor, bring several hooked of products with it. They spilled to the floor. He heard glass shatter.

"Sasuke!"

He didn't want to go home.

He didn't want to eat.

But now, he had to leave here, too, before he began to consider that he had a split personality, or worse, that--

_Riiing_

Sasuke didn't know that he was outside until cold air struck his face like a hammer, giving him an instant headache. His nostrils burned, and he didn't know he was running until his lungs began to burn.

Sense was telling him two rather contradictory things. One was that he needed to go back that and question Miss Jekyll further, to withdraw from her more details about whatever it was she'd been talking about. About this stranger with his face. Sense also told him he needed to leave before he finally cracked.

He stopped several empty streets away, leaning and heaving against the crumbling brick corner of a closed dry cleaner's. The sky was a deep, pitch black, like frozen silk. His windbreaker provided little warmth, but he didn't mind it much. Didn't mind it at all, in fact. He stared out and into the horizon, studying the outlines of buildings that were given shape by the outlines of stars and streetlight. He could see a small lake, like a pool of liquid silver. He could see the outlines of the run down part of town that was scheduled for reconstruction some time next May. He could see everything, the darker part of his neighborhood, and it looked so much warmer, so much more inviting than his empty home. It pulled to him to walk its empty streets, that there was a comforting warmth hidden somewhere in those trashed houses, and all he'd have to do was go in and find it.

He took a step.

Another.

But there would be no warmth there, Sasuke knew, not matter what his guts and his heart told him. Only the cold, the darkness, and the moon.

_A second me._

His hands went back into his pockets.

_A man with my face._

Dejected, he turned on his heel, and began the long journey back home.

_What the Hell is going on?_

**November 18, 2005**

Naruto was always slow to wake, but this particular waking came with a jolt of surprise. One side of his body was immobilized, pinned to the bed by his wrist by something cold and unmoving, making his fingers twitch. They felt numb. It was cold inside the room. There was a draft somewhere. Out on the streets, painted with the colors of night, a cat mewled and hissed pathetically like a wolf baying at the moon.

He tried to move his hand, but the restraint kept him from moving far. He groaned, and a breathy chuckle swept away the last of the sleep that lay like old laundry in his mind.

Naruto blinked, confused, and Sasuke finally removed his hand from where it had been pinning Naruto's to the bed. The younger man was lying down on his stomach, head tilted in the vampire's direction, eyes curious and mouth pursed.

"Oi." He felt ashamed when his voice croaked like a bull frog. Sasuke's grin grew wider. Clearing his throat, Naruto said, "What was that for?"

"You were thrashing about in your sleep again," was Sasuke's excuse.

Naruto propped himself up on his elbows, but didn't move to leave the comfort of the covers, his bare skin sure to feel the chill of a late November morning. Unlike Naruto, however, Sasuke was fully clothed and straddling the edge of the bed. Again, Naruto was confused. But when he looked out the window, it was to see a dim, dark red, like rust, staining the sky. Dawn was approaching, and Sasuke was leaving.

"I thought," Sasuke murmured, crimson eyes troubled, "that sleeping with me helped to keep the terrors away."

"It does!" Naruto said immediately, twisting so that he could sit cross-legged on the mattress, the thin sheet ripping over his lap. "It does, Sasuke. But you cannot chase them all away."

Sasuke snorted. "I should."

They were silent for a while, both well aware that the sun was mere minutes from kissing the lipped tops of the skyscrapers that, over the past few years, had erected themselves before their bewildered eyes. Bewildered, all but Sasuke's. Nothing seemed to faze him, and Naruto felt that nothing ever truly would. He'd lived too long, Naruto knew, for much to surprise him.

"You surprise me," Sasuke had assured him once when Naruto voiced his thoughts. "Every second of every day you surprise me."

Naruto had laughed. "Even when I am not there, eh?"

Sasuke hadn't laughed, but smiled, a little sadly for reasons Naruto wouldn't understand until several short months later. "Yes. Even then."

Now, Sasuke sighed and turned his face away from his lover to face the dawn. "I should leave."

They had this down to a science. Like a predator could sense pray, Sasuke could sense when the dawn was approaching. He could count the seconds until the first sliver of light sliced through the fog-choked air of an early London morning. But Naruto had gotten something down to a science, as well: his pleas.

"You don't have to leave," Naruto said as if he expected this morning's answer to be different than any other morning. "Stay here. You know no one will come in, and there are dark places--"

"The only dark place in this apartment is that pathetically small closet of yours." He gestured around Naruto's home with a gentle wave of his arm. It was one large room with the bed tucked into a corner, the kitchen in another, and the rest of the space dedicated to several tall easels and a plain wooden work bench that was littered with blueprints, some torn, some new. Three of the walls were plain, unpainted, chipped and cracked in places. The fourth wall that faced the rest of the world was made entirely of glass.

"Your room must be full of light when the sun rises," Sasuke murmured wistfully, eyes glazing with visions visibly only to him. "It must look marvelous."

"Yes…" When Naruto had designed and constructed this new wall of glass three years ago, he hadn't taken into consideration a man who regarded the sun as an atheist might a crucifix. If he'd known, he might have bricked over the tiny window the wall had offered, covered it in thick burlap, something to block out the sun, to keep Sasuke with him every day, every hour…

Sasuke was getting up and, before he could stop himself, Naruto was grappling at his forearm. "Do not go." Do not leave me. "Stay." You always leave me.

"You know I hate it when you beg this of me," Sasuke murmured, a sadness and loneliness that seemed as old as time itself weighed heavily in his eyes, but Naruto couldn't stop himself from asking anyway.

"Please…"

"I must."

"Do not leave me."

"Only until night time, Naruto."

"Please."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Don't leave me… Sasuke…"

"I have no intentions of leaving you, Naruto. I'm right here."

"Please, Sasuke, don't…."

"Wake up. I'm right here. Wake up, Naruto."

Naruto's gaze wavered, and he opened his eyes.

The sky was indeed dark, but instead of the sun rising, it was beginning to wane. There was no trace of its light, only the burnt remains that would fade to black in half an hour's time. The room wasn't cold but warm, the fire once again crackling like it had never begun to die. Indeed, it was warm enough that his forehead had begun to sponge with sweat, causing blond locks to stick to it in messy clumps. He lay on his stomach, hands twisted in the sheets and keeping them taught over his waist and shoulders.

Naruto looked at his wrist. The handcuffs were gone.

He looked up, and met Sasuke's gave squarely. The amber of the irises were more warm than cold this morning, and Naruto winced when he realized the reason behind the vampire's slightly mesmerized expression.

"Back up," Naruto muttered, even though Sasuke was a good two feet from his person. Nevertheless, Sasuke backed up further. Feeling the sheets loosen at the lack of weight pinning them down, Naruto was able to struggle into a sitting position, rubbing at his eyes in a sleepy manner even though he didn't feel remotely tired. He was stalling for time that he was sure the vampire would take at any moment. He needed a reasonable excuse, a believable story, something flexible enough that it would rebut any accusation Sasuke threw at him.

The silence stretched on for several long moments, which Naruto spent debating the pros and cons of debating about a horrible nightmare. Sasuke cut him to the chase before he could come up with anything concrete.

"You said my name."

"I didn't." A story could have plot holes. Denial was better, easier.

"You did." That wonder, the warm glow, was still in his eyes, and Naruto found himself simultaneously despising it and wanting to make it glow brighter.

"You're hearing things." Sasuke sat at the edge of the bed, but nevertheless, Naruto felt trapped. "Let me up."

Sasuke didn't move. "You did," he repeated, leaning forward by an inch. It felt, to Naruto, like a mile. "It was a 'keh' sound."

"You're hearing shit," Naruto deadpanned, feigning nonchalance. "If you don't stop deluding yourself, you'll never come to your senses."

"I am not the one whom needs to come to his senses."

"Whatever." Feeling the familiar pressure, Naruto gladly yawned widely, adding to his charade. "You gonna let me off the bed?"

Sasuke leaned forward again, unrelenting. "What were you dreaming of?" he asked. "You asked me not to go."

"It wasn't you I was dreaming of, asshole. It was Sasuke."

"Stop lying to yourself."

"I dreamt I was home," Naruto quickly lied. "The morning that Sasuke left for the airport. I knew you were coming, and I knew you wouldn't if Sasuke stayed."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "You're lying." The warmth had dissipated and was quickly being replaced with doubt. It was working.

Having just woken up from the most surreal, frightening dream he'd ever had in his entire life, Naruto's mind was understandably muddled. It clouded his judgment and gave his courage a fierce sort of clarity. It let him bring himself to his knees, inched him forward until he wasn't half a foot from Sasuke. He settled back onto the balls of his feet, and surprised even himself when his hands drew up and gripped Sasuke's face gently, one palm to each cheekbone, the tips of his fingers grazing his ears and his bangs.

Sasuke blinked up at him, eyes wide with shock, lips falling apart slightly, his breath hitting Naruto's face like a cool gust of mint-scented wind.

"Naruto…" he murmured, tilting his head to the side, hope birthing in his eyes and making Naruto's heart ache in his chest.

"Sasuke." It was the first time Naruto had knowingly said the vampire's name, and it sounded so wrong, but felt so familiar, and he knew he'd remember the sound of it, the way his lips and tongue formed the syllables, for the rest of his life. But now it was time to throw down the final peg of his lie, and hopefully the next rung of the ladder that would allow him to climb out of this Hell. "There is nothing in this world that I want more than to let this place burn to the ground, with you in it, and go back home to the man that I love."

It hurt more than Naruto thought it would, saying something so hateful, but it had its desired effect. More of an effect than he was hoping for.

It was painful to notice the way that the hope lingered over Sasuke's features for a few seconds longer, like he was waiting for Naruto to tell him it was just a joke.

Then the anguish set in, and Naruto, for the life of him, couldn't find the words to describe it.

It made him feel like dying.

Sasuke's face inched away from his hands slowly, and Naruto let them drop back down to his lap. Sooner than he expected him to, Sasuke was standing and stepping away from the bed, although he didn't turn his back to the human. Like Naruto held a weapon Sasuke couldn't possibly fathom wielding, and that it would spear him in the back the moment he turned his gaze away.

"What do you want for breakfast?"

Naruto wasn't quite sure he heard that right. "What?"

"What," Sasuke said slowly, "do you want for breakfast?"

"I'm not hungry," Naruto blurted out, eyes still confused, hearting beating rapidly--hopefully?--in his chest.

Sasuke nodded and headed for the door. Before he stepped out and locked it behind him, Sasuke turned to say his next words to Naruto's face.

"Even when I first met you nearly a century go, I knew what a horrendous liar you were. You cannot lie, Naruto, especially to me. Your eyes just cannot get into it. As I know this, I know you were not dreaming of your old home, and I most certainly know that you were not dreaming of _him_. I'm not the fool here, Naruto."

Naruto practically felt his jaw unhinge. His eyes were wide with shock, shame making his heart clench tightly like a fist inside of his chest.

"You claim to love the man that I stole you away from, but if he would believe a lie such as the one you tried to feed me, he is nowhere near deserving of your love."

Naruto couldn't think of anything to say. His tongue felt still and swollen in his mind and he felt that if he were to try and say anything, it would fall right out of his mouth.

"There are clothes for you on the window sill," Sasuke said, nodding towards the window. "I'll bring you up your breakfast shortly."

It sounded like a dismissal if Naruto had never heard one, but Sasuke lingered to say something else.

"And one more thing." To Naruto's further shock, Sasuke began to smirk, all earlier signs of agony completely gone. "You're a fool to think that I could die in a mere fire, let alone allow you to get far enough away from me that you'd go back to that pathetic excuse for a human being. You can lie all you want, Naruto, but if he wants you back, then he'll need to do what I did." His eyes gleamed. "Take you from me himself."

_Click_

Naruto listened to the sounds of feet walking down a set of creaking steps, lamented the death of his courage, and wondered when it would return to him for good.

--

Sasuke knew Naruto wasn't hungry because of his biological clock, not a sincere lack of appetite. He didn't know how his stomach would react to the reversal of breakfast, lunch and dinner, so he made something simple. He popped two pieces of white bread into the toaster on the counter and while he waited for them to toast, he fetched from the pantry a jar each of marmalade and peanut butter. It was a treat Naruto used to love for breakfast, and Sasuke was curious as to whether he'd like it now. Behind him, the power generator hummed, the hulking thing looking odd and out-of-place in such an old-fashioned kitchen.

He lay out a plate, leaned against the wall, and thought.

He knew Naruto would lie before the man even woke up. It was just the sort of person he was, protecting truths he thought he needed to keep secret and sharing all the others.

After so many centuries of life, Sasuke had eliminated the bad habit of forgetting and misunderstanding. He spent the last one hundred years thinking of the man who was undoubtedly sulking in the locked room directly above him, dissecting his habits and his quirks in his mind, tracing the contours of his smiling face with his mind, shutting his eyes to see cerulean ones looking earnestly back at him.

The toaster popped

And then he began to think of Sasuke.

Sasuke had to give the human some credit. He seemed to make Naruto happy, to a certain degree. They lived in a modest home on the outskirts of town, surrounded by plenty of trees, and never needed to travel far for anything. Their home was full of windows, like he knew Naruto liked it. They were comfortable, and Naruto craved comfortable. They were steady, like the sun and the moon. They could fight knowing that no matter what was said or done, they'd eventually find their way back to each other.

But that didn't change the fact that Sasuke wasn't _him_.

There were times that they didn't seem to be on the same page.

When Naruto wanted to go out, Sasuke wanted to stay, and of course the blond would stay with him. If Naruto wanted to have sex that night, Sasuke would sometimes put his work ahead of that and let Naruto go to bed himself that night. When they argued over what they'd have for dinner, Sasuke made too much effort to win out the argument, and he sometimes did. Naruto shouldered responsibilities that they should have shared. His eyes sometimes looked a bit lost, like he wanted to say something, but didn't.

And that was all the least of it.

The most deciding factor was that that pathetic human couldn't protect Naruto the way that he could.

There was no weight heavy enough in this world, or in any other world, that could crush him. No temperature was hot enough or cold enough to ail him in the slightest. Sasuke could feel things, oh yes. Pain was no stranger to him. But after such a long life, it became more of a nuisance than something that could bother him. He'd learned to turn the pain off, to tuck it into the corner of his mind where it wouldn't bother him.

Sasuke could not be hurt. Sasuke could not die.

The human could be both.

And that was why he, not the other, could protect Naruto. And only he who could protect him could ever be worthy of him.

Sasuke drew the toast out of the oven, found it to have cooled, and popped it back down for another minute to heat up.

_Yes, _he thought. _Only me._

And as he waited for the toast to pop back up, he looked out the window above the sink and into the sky, plotting, and planning.

--

When Sasuke had unlocked the door and entered, it was to find Naruto changed, but not on the bed. He'd been on the floor, arms crossed behind his head, legs in a perfect arch across the floor, doing a set of sit-ups.

"What are you doing now?" Sasuke asked, crossing the room to place Naruto's breakfast on the bed.

"What does it look like?" Naruto grunted, face flushed slightly from exertion. "My body feels all weird. I need to stretch my muscles."

"What muscles?" Sasuke had joked. He got a harmless kick to the shin retribution.

When Naruto had lifted himself from the floor and stretched, he walked over to bed the bed and picked up the plate, eyeing it slightly incredulously. "The fuck is this?"

"It's breakfast."

"It looks disgusting."

"Try it before you judge it, moron."

"What is it, anyway?"

Sasuke sighed. "Toast with marmalade and peanut butter."

"Your cooking skills suck. Where did you come up with this anyway?" Sasuke didn't answer, so Naruto rolled his eyes and took a bite, hungry despite himself. He sincerely wished it didn't taste so good that it showed on his face.

"Like it?" Naruto didn't like the triumph he saw in the vampire's eye, and he rolled his eyes, ready to make a sarcastic comment, if not a lie.

_"You cannot lie, Naruto, especially to me."_

"It's edible."

Sasuke smirked, sitting on the edge of the bed and looking up at him. Naruto made a show of walking around the bed to get to the other side to sit while he ate. For a short while, there was silence while they both thought, one eating, one staring.

"Oi, bastard."

"Hm?"

"Why aren't I a vampire?"

Sasuke seemed sufficiently shaken from what ever reverie he'd been stuck in, eyebrow arched slightly in question. Naruto lay sprawled across the bed now, plate empty and next to his elbow, studying his arm carefully and flexing his fingers, curling his hand into a fist and relaxing it. The bite marks from just below the inside of his elbow had completely healed over, and the marks on his shoulders had faded to a shiny pink, most likely to disappear completely in a few short hours.

Although Sasuke knew exactly what it was that Naruto was talking about, he decided to make him work for it.

"You are not a vampire because you are stupendously stubborn," Sasuke said.

"You know what I mean," Naruto snapped.

"Are you sure it won't be too complicated for you?"

"I think I can handle it," Naruto said dryly.

Sasuke chuckled, but the sound died as quickly as it was made. He paused, as if collecting his thoughts. "When I bite a person," he began, "the venom from my teeth is injected into the bloodstream. In order for the transformation to begin, the venom needs to reach the heart. Vampire venom, however, is incredibly weak. If I bite a point far away from the heart, such as your right arm or your leg, the venom will become virtually harmless by the time it gets into the heart."

"So… what, you have to bite right over it or something?"

"Ironically enough, no. The chest, for both males and females, is protected by too much muscle. My teeth wouldn't be able to penetrate deep enough.

"The neck is the ideal place to bite if you want a transformation to occur. The main arteries are fairly close to the skin, and it pumps directly to the heart."

"So I'm not a creature of the living dead because your pansy venom is weak as shit?"

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "In so many words," he replied, voice clipped.

Naruto worried his lip, trying to figure out how to word his next question without wounding his pride too much. He traced patterns with the crumbs on his plate with his forefinger as he spoke. "If your venom's so damn weak, then why are you so…"

"Strong?" Naruto snorted, which Sasuke took to mean a 'yes'." Physically, I'm no stronger than I was when I was human. My body is frozen, I guess you could say. Nothing could ever and will ever harm it. Likewise, it will never grow or develop any farther."

"So what? You're just gonna… live forever the way you are?"

"Yes," Sasuke said solemnly. He moved himself fully on the bed, tilting himself back to prop himself against his arms. "Unless one of two things happen."

"Eh?"

"I have no prior evidence to support this theory, but judging by my hunger for blood, I'm guess that if it were to be cut off, I'd eventually starve to death."

"And the second thin?" he prompted.

Sasuke's eyes left Naruto's to stare out the window. "The sun."

"The sun?"

"Yes. And this one I have plenty of evidence to support." Seemingly unconsciously, Sasuke's hand began to massage the gloves one, fingers rubbing over the spot Naruto knew to be like solid rock.

"So when the sun hits your skin it… what, freezes into stone?"

Sasuke snorted. "What did you think it would do? Sparkle?" (1)

"Don't make fun of me," Naruto snapped. The scorn left his voice quickly, though. He was getting the answers he wanted, and he had no intentions of doing anything to mess it up. "How did it happen?"

"Hmm… it was one of my very first memories since I woke up immortal," Sasuke murmured, still touching his hand. "I was curious. I'd been in a dark, boarded house for a week, and I was always a bit… frightened of touching the sunlight. But I was nevertheless curious, and that won out in the end.

"There were spots in the boards that were cracked, chipped away. Light shone through in spots. I decided to place a harmless part of myself into it, and if it hurt, I'd retract my hand instantly." Sasuke stopped massaging his gloves hand. He drew it into his fist, brought it up to eyesight, and stared thoughtfully of it. "I wear a glove to try and forget the disfigurement, but still, I'm reminded of my mistake every day."

"Does it hurt?" Naruto asked cautiously, although he was fairly sure he knew the answer.

Sasuke finally looked away from his hand to meet Naruto's gaze once again. Slowly, he said, "Tremendously."

"Does it still hurt?"

"Very much so."

Sasuke's eyes were still on him, expectant, and Naruto wondered what the vampire thought he'd ask next. He seemed surprised by Naruto's next question. "You said you woke up in a rundown house, right?"

"Yes."

"Woke up as a vampire?"

Sasuke's eyes tightened. He seemed to know where this line of questioning would lead. "Yes."

"That means you were human once. Right?"

Sasuke sighed, heavily, and deep somberness seemed to weight down his very shoulders. "Yes," he repeated, sounding tired of the same answer.

"Who was it that… changed _you_?"

Sasuke looked torn between telling him and avoiding the subject. Naruto hoped desperately for the former, but for the first time since their conversation began, he was disappointed.

"That," Sasuke said, "is a question for another day."

Naruto frowned, but decided not to push it. Much to his dismay, he still had several weeks stuck in this house. There would be plenty of time for more questioning later.

Abruptly, Sasuke asked, "Are you full?" He pointed at Naruto's plate.

"Yeah, I'm done." Naruto pushed his plate towards Sasuke, expecting the vampire to take it, but he did no such thing. Instead, Sasuke ignored the plate, stood up, and circled around to Naruto's side of the bed. Human regarded vampire wearily, even more so when said demonic being held an expectant hand out to him.

"Good," Sasuke said. "Let's go."

"Go where?" Naruto asked cautiously, but he doubted he cared much for the answer. Anywhere Sasuke took him that was outside of this room seemed like a dream come true.

"I want to show you something." Sasuke grinned, his fangs flashing. "It's past time that I do some convincing."

**November 27, 2005**

_12:00_

…

_12:01_

…

_12:02_

…

_1:35_

Sasuke Uchiha could not sleep, so instead, he sat leaning against the headboard of their shared bed, staring at the digital clock that was still duct taped to the table, a bit dusty from months of use, still here, still theirs.

_1:37_

His right arm fell asleep, and he shifted so that it as his left shoulder that bore most of his weight. The angle made it slightly more difficult to see the illuminated screen. He cocked his head so as to see it better.

_1:38_

Someone had Naruto, he knew now. Someone smart, someone resourceful, and someone who had been possibly shadowing the two of them--_it's easier to think he's been stalking us both, the two of us, not just him, not Naruto, leave him alone and come after me instead_--for weeks, maybe even months. Someone smart enough to fool CSI with a set of dodgy prints. Someone with his face, or a good replica of it.

It was impossible to think. Ludicrous that anyone would handcraft a mask of his face, to mold a wig, to buy clothes like his, to learn about his life, just to get to his boyfriend. But as that boyfriend was Naruto, well…

Sasuke's fists, for the first time in days, clenched not to choke back an overwhelming sense of sadness, of self-pity, but in anger. Pure rage, pushing everything else out of his mind until all he could feel, hear, smell, was the hot, coppery blood swirling through his veins.

It was an impossible thought, something only a crazed man would think. The police would mark it off as laughable and shoot to the more viable option.

But not Sasuke.

He knew how to play this mystery game, too.

When all other options were eliminated, the only one left must be the right one.

_1:42_

He looked harder at the alarm clock. Saw a blurred reflection of his face in the plastic covering.

"_Sasuke, the fingerprints are _yours."

Every enraged pulse of blood seemed to run in perfect sync with the seconds he continued to count, the difference between digits on the clock that they'd bought some time last summer, whose brother was wherever Naruto was.

_"It looked just like you. You probably forgot."_

_"Prints from the outside."_

_"You said that Naruto broke it again."_

_"The fingerprints are _yours."

_"You can't forge a fingerprint, Sasuke."_

_You can and he has. No one will believe me, but whoever he is, whatever kind of monster he is, he _has.

Today was officially Sunday, and the next morning Sasuke had classes he had full intentions on not intending.

Because no one believed him.

_"It looked just like you."_

_"The fingerprints are _yours."

He was done playing the weeping widow in a trashy mystery novel.

Sasuke had some investigating of his own to do now.

--

(1) Haha, Kodak made a funny. For those who didn't get the joke, I've one word for you: Twilight.


	7. Long Shot

**Author's Notes: **_Sorry for the long wait. I caught pneumonia and haven't been able to write for a few weeks because of it._

_Any and all future Twilight references are completely unintentional, and should be ignored. Although the excerpt from a Fall Out Boy song is, unfortunately, very much intended. Sorry, but I had to do it. I heard this one line on the radio and laughed. It's oddly fitting._

_In the last chapter I made a mistake. When Sasuke was talking about the transformation from human to vampire, I said it was due to the venom spreading from the arteries. That's incorrect. It's supposed to be 'vein', more specifically, the jugular vein. As a reviewer pointed out, the arteries in the neck lead to the brain, not the heart._

_**-Kodak**_

"Say my name and his in the same breath, I dare you to say they taste the same."

-I Don't Care_, _by _Fall Out Boy_

**November 27, 2005**

When Sasuke woke up the next morning, he was mildly surprised to find that it was eight 'o' clock. By recent standards, he'd gotten a full night of sleep. Hs slumber had been untainted with dark nightmares, an even more surprising fact, although when he awakened, it was to a sense of unease and faint nausea in his stomach.

To quell the sickening, he headed straight to the kitchen and popped two slices of whole-wheat bread into the toaster. While he waited for it to finish, he poured himself a tall glass of orange juice, and leaned against the counter to drink it, rubbing his bangs out of his eyes on more than one occasion. Without gel they sort of flopped over his face, and he finally tucked them behind his ears.

When his toast was done, he placed it into a napkin, refilled his glass, and padded to the living room where he sunk heavily into the couch, contemplating the ceiling with his head tilted back, thinking all the while.

There was a twenty dollar bill on his dresser, he though, taking a bite. He would take that, and maybe a five. More than enough to pay for what he remembered the damage to be. At least, it should be.

Finished with his first piece of toast, he eyed the other one blandly before crushing it into his napkin. Lately, the line between hunger and over-eating had become despairingly thin. If he ate too much, he'd retch. If he didn't eat enough, his stomach would pain him, and would make eating equally agonizing. He went to the kitchen, threw the napkin away, dumped the rest of his juice and let his glass sit on the counter, then dragged himself upstairs to shower.

Half an hour later found him outside of his house and into the cold. He'd had the sense to wear a heavier jacket, a leather coat that went down a few inches past his knees, although he mildly regretted having not grabbed a scarf. The cold bit at his lips, and he licked at them to keep them from chapping.

_Is he cold, too?_

His fingertips ran over the edges of the thin wad of currency in his pocket.

_Is he cold?_

The bell rang, like it did last night, and once more he emptied the empty hardware shop.

Sasuke had no clue if Miss Jekyll would be in today. It could be one of the college students he'd seen behind the counter every now and then, but a feeling told him the old woman would be right where he left her. His intuition, for the most part, was right. Except that instead of in the aisle he'd stormed out of last night, she was crouched in front of the short wall of magazines, sliding a new sheaf of _Times _magazine into place.

She didn't look up upon his entrance. "Hey, how're you," was her customary greeting, and without waiting for an answer, she asked, "Can I help you find anything?" Sasuke was silent long enough for Miss Jekyll to turn around, possibly wondering if her bad hearing was playing tricks on her. Her eyes widened slightly behind her thick bifocals. "Oh."

Sasuke still didn't say anything, and after a pregnant pause, Miss Jekyll cleared her throat and asked, "Can I help you with anything?" There was a slight tightening of her eyes, but Sasuke couldn't discern whether it was from anger or concern.

"I want to--" 'Apologize' seemed to juvenile, too cliché a word, so Sasuke reached into his pocket and pulled out the cash. "For last night," he said. "For whatever I broke."

She waved an annoyed hand at his money. "Don't worry 'bout it," she said. "Not yer fault."

Sasuke was. Whether this was out of pity or genuine concern, he wanted neither, so--"I want to pay for it."

"A simple 'I'm sorry' would do just fine," she informed him. "But you don't seem the type to say sorry, huh?"

Sasuke could think of nothing to say. His hand remained outstretched, although he knew any attempt he made at making her take the money would be in vain. Why bother? She didn't want it.

"If yer really sorry, you c'n take that money and buy me a cuppa coffe down the corner," Miss Jekyll said. "Take yer fancy twenty and buy me a tall black cuppa joe, and you'll be considered forgiven. An' don't you dare get me any of that Starbucks crap."

Sasuke's hand retracted to his side, and with the twenty dollar bill still in hand, he left the store.

When he returned, Miss Jekyll had finished with the magazines. She stood leaning on the counter, obviously waiting for him. Sasuke held in his hands two cups of coffee, both black, from Florence's Danish and Eatery a few stores down.

He handed Miss Jekyll hers, and watched her take a contented sip before taking a gulp of his own. She sighed heavily, and it sounded like the rattling wheeze of an old air conditioner. Sasuke realized then just how old this woman was. He'd never realized how many wrinkles lined her face, how thin her skin seemed, how knotted, gnarled and veined her hands were. He wondered if this could be the last cup of coffee she ever drank, if she'd fall limp right in front of him, because she looked like she was relying on her last reserves of a quickly dwindling supply of inner-strength.

Then he wondered when it was his thoughts had grown so morbid.

Sasuke took another, stronger drink of coffee.

"So, what'cha doin' here so early in the morning? I'm fairly positive it wasn't to get this old woman a cuppa coffee."

A furrow dug itself between Sasuke's eyebrows. He knew the answer, but couldn't find words that would give it form. Last night, when he'd gone to bed, one of his last thoughts had been, No matter how possible this sounds now, it'll sound like bull shit tomorrow. But he'd woken up still feeling like he was the main character in some sort of horrific psychological thriller, and that he still needed to play his role as detective if he ever hoped to get anywhere.

"I wanted to talk about something you told me last night."

"Well ain't that obvious?" She gave him a crooked smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Still hung up on that, are ya?"

"Not hung up," Sasuke corrected. "Interested."

"Yer hung up," she told him authoritatively. "Son, lemme tell you something. When someone's goin' through a tough time, it seems like every damned thing on the planet is out to get ya, and it ain't true. You start forgettin' things, and everything seems important. It ain't. Not everythin's a clue."

"I'm not looking for clues," Sasuke lied. "I'm not a detective." That one, depressingly enough, wasn't a lie. The truth weighed heavily in his words, and Sasuke wondered what the hell he was doing.

"I knot that, but I don't think you do." Miss Jekyll eyes the lid of her cup, then put it down on the counter. "It's tough, son, I know."

"No, I don't think you do." Sasuke realized that this was a stupid idea. Miss Jekyll wasn't going to talk about his supposed clone wondering around town. She was going to be sympathetic, like life-long experience had taught her. This was useless. A waste of time.

"It's differen' for everybody," she agree, nodding her grizzly head, but it was lost on Sasuke, who was already digging through his pockets. He'd used the five to pay for their drinks, and once again, he drew out the twenty. Instead of handing it to her, however, he threw it on the counter.

"For what I broke," Sasuke repeated. He let that be his dismissal as well, and before Miss Jekyll could say another word, Sasuke was out the door, disappearing as quickly as he'd come.

--

The moment Sasuke stepped through the door of his and Naruto's shared house, he heard a distant ringing. At first he thought it was simply a ringing cause by his mounting headache. When he realized it was the phone, he at first attempted to ignore it, shutting the door behind him and leaning heavily against it. The consequences of not picking the phone up, however, far outweighed the results of ignoring it. It could be Sakura telling him to get out of the house, the police were coming. It could be Naruto, telling him he was on Candid Camera (1) and to come pick me up at the station, idiot, the joke's over.

Setting the keys down on the end table, flinging his coat onto the couch, he walked heavily to the kitchen. The phone stopped ringing, silence reigned for ten seconds, and then it began to ring again.

Picking it up, cradling it in his palm for a moment, lamenting his procrastination on getting Caller ID, he pressed it to his ear and said, "Uchiha."

_"Sasuke," _he heard Sakura wince from the other end of the line. "There you are! I've been trying to get a hold of you forever!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the exaggeration. "I've been out," he said. "I didn't hear the phone ring."

"_Out or not, you should still have your cell phone. Which works much better, by the way, when you _turn it on."

The barb flew completely over his head, as Sasuke was suddenly feeling his right pocket, digging his hand in, and feeling only leg. It hit him, then, like a ten-pound bag of hardened cement.

_Where is my cell phone?_

Losing a phone would have been insignificant to anyone but Sasuke.

_They, he, whoever, could have called him and posed as me. Naruto would have gone to meet whoever it was in a second. But how would that explain the popped window?_

_You're playing detective again._

_What does Sakura want?_

_Where's my phone?_

_When did get so disorderly?_

_Is Naruto alive?_

_Does Naruto have my phone?_

_Whoever had my phone, he has Naruto, __**he has Naruto.**_

___"Sasuke?"_

"I'm here," was Sasuke's automatic response. "I'll turn my phone on." _He had Naruto, he has my phone. He took my phone, he took Naruto, where's my phone? _Sakura was beginning to say something else, but he hung up on her.

She didn't visit that day, and the house was wonderfully, depressingly quiet.

It wasn't noon, but Sasuke Uchiha kicked his shoes off in the kitchen, went up the stairs, tore his shirt off and let it stay where it fell. He undid the button and zipper of his pants, but didn't bother to take them off. He fell into bed. Toed off his socks. And stayed, staring at the ceiling, thinking of his cell phone and that Naruto had his own ring tone, the only one Sasuke ever picked up for.

Sasuke's head fell more heavily onto the pillow some time in the early morning, eyes shutting. He couldn't measure the amount of time he spent staring at the back of his eyelids, then the ceiling, then his eyelids before he finally fell asleep. His stomach told him he was hungry and his mind told him he'd never eat again. He had no recollection of ever falling unconscious.

But when he woke up, an epiphany hit him as fast as sleep had been slow to come.

He needed to make a phone call.

--

**November 18, 2005**

"Where are we going?"

"The attic."

Naruto winced, eyeing the walls of the obviously decrepit building. "This place has an attic?"

"Yes." Sasuke stopped in the middle of the hallway and opened the closet. He tucked inside for a moment, and withdrew a moment later with a stepstool.

"You sure the floor won't collapse under our feet?"

Sasuke snorted. "Not entirely," he said dryly, unfolding the stool and stepping up. He reached a hand above his head, grabbed a string Naruto hadn't even seen before, and pulled. When the door flopped open, Naruto expected a cloud of dust to fall on Sasuke's head, but it didn't. It was perfectly clean, just like the rest of the house.

_Great. Just what I need. A vampire with OCD._

"Did you need a hand up?" Sasuke asked. "There's no ladder in the house."

Naruto scowled and hissed, "I can get up fine, bastard!"

Sasuke shrugged. "Suit yourself." He reached both hands up, gripped along the edges of the panel, and in one graceful movement, tightened his arms and drew himself up. He was through and in the attic before Naruto could even blink.

For a moment, the blond considered running. But he could feel the vampire's eyes resting heavily on him, which meant that he was crouched right by the door, perfectly capable of springing down and tackling Naruto to the ground before he took all of two steps.

Naruto stood hesitantly on the stool, and then looked up. He wasn't short, but Sasuke was tall, and the distance didn't look as great when _he'd _done it. He reached his hands up, already knowing that he'd fall inches short.

Pale, cold hands flew down and snapped around Naruto's wrists, and Naruto yelped, falling backwards. But Sasuke was already pulling, and in the next moment, he was sitting with his legs dangling through the door, trying to regain his normal pulse rate.

The only light came from below, and it came up through the air like a dusty hologram. In the darkness, he felt Sasuke move beside him and mutter, "You're such a woman."

"Shut up!" Naruto snapped, shoving the taller man away.

Sasuke scooted back, and Naruto saw the faint outline of him unfold itself until he stood at his full height, and then he retreated back into the shadow where he became completely indistinguishable.

"What? You gonna turn into a bat or something?" It was meant to be a joke, but a real trace of apprehension entered his voice.

A snap, crackle, and a flicker later, and there were two lights. A small one from the match, which Sasuke quickly extinguished with a flick of his wrist, and the light from the taper candle he held in his hand. "Don't be stupid."

"Hey, I'd believe pretty much anything at this point." Naruto paused, and scowled when Sasuke began to smirk. "But _not that_."

Sasuke tossed the used match onto a broken down, but clean table that held a short stack of books that looked to be the size of cement slabs. There were no bindings, but the covers looked like leather.

When Sasuke didn't move, Naruto stepped forward to inspect the desk. "What is all this?" Naruto asked, brushing the tips of his fingers across the top of one. It had no title, no author, and the pages looked thick, jagged and cracked. "You couldn't have shown me this downstairs?"

"I don't like to move them when it's unnecessary," Sasuke explained. 'They're very old."

"Why the attic? Why not the living room or something?" Naruto began to flip open the front cover, but a gloved hand covered his before he could move it.

"It's very, very old," Sasuke repeated. "Nearly a century, as a matter of fact. Be careful with it.'

It suddenly dawned on Naruto what was in that book, and his curiosity extinguished like a small flame doused in water. He didn't want to see it.

Sensing his sudden change of heart, Sasuke took over for him. He set the candle in its holder down, the light refracting off the surrounding area like it was all made from a dully and dusty mirror, and slid the book closer to him. The sound it made was dull, but from the way Naruto reacted, it might as well have been nails on a chalkboard.

"I don't really need to see--"

"Hush. There aren't that many. Photography was a new technology in your time."

"My _time_," Naruto snapped sarcastically. He was ready to say more, and none of it pleasant, but the cover of the book was suddenly open, and Naruto was trapped.

"This is actually the first picture you've ever taken in your life," Sasuke said. He pointed to the obvious structure in the picture. "You said you wanted to remember this."

Naruto wasn't really listening. He was too frightened to say much, and with his face leaning downwards, eyes wide and breath choking in his throat, he stared at the nearly barren, the edge of a scrubbed wooden table, the leg of an easel, and the wall-wide window that took up nearly three-quarters of the snapshot.

**November 28, 2005**

_"Uchiha. It's seven in the morning. Don't you have better things to do than to call me? Like sleep?"_

"Wake up. I have a favor I need you to do."

_"Of course you do."_

Sasuke heard shuffling on the other end of the line, but he highly doubted that Shikamaru was actually getting up. Probably just twisting into a more comfortable position on the mattress.

"I need you to track a phone number."

_"What, no 'hello', no 'good morning', no 'please'?"_

Not in the mood for teasing banter, Sasuke let his silence speak for him.

Shikamaru sighed. _"Naruto's, right?"_

"Wrong."

Shikamaru was quiet for a moment. _"Not Naruto's?"_

"No. Whoever took Naruto left his cell phone here."

If Shikamaru noticed that Sasuke spoke as if the abduction was a fact more so than an option, he didn't comment. _"Then whose?"_

"Mine."

This time, when the brunet lapsed into silence, Sasuke wasn't sure if it was because he was tired or just too lazy to answer right away. But when he spoke again, it was in his usual monotone. _"Please don't tell me you woke me up this early just because you lost your phone down a couch cushion."_

"Would I do that?"

_"In all seriousness? You might, if you were pissed enough." _A pause. _"Are you?"_

"I am, but not at you." Sasuke sighed. "Just track it for me, would you?"

_"Why?" _Sasuke heard a creaking sound, and then soft taps that could only mean Shikamaru was making his way across the hardwood floor of his flat. He was moving, at least, Sasuke thought. Sasuke would consider himself twice as lucky if the genius was making his way towards his computer, not the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee.

Knowing that his story would sound highly improbably, if not ludicrous, Sasuke began, already having decided not to lie to Shikamaru. The man was a genius in pretty much everything imaginable. He could read people better than they could themselves sometimes. He'd skipped through most of high school, graduated from Harvard as valedictorian, and was now employed under the CEO of a major computer networking company. Sasuke knew for a fact that Shikamaru's brains were the only thing saving him from landing himself out of a job. His personality was lazy, lazy as they come. It was when he realized that if he applied himself to schoolwork early on, he could get the whole thing out of the way in less than half the time if he skipped class.

Despite his laziness and his genius, Shikamaru was loyal, protective, even. In their early high school years (except for Shikamaru, who was graduating the end of that year), Ino had taken the train up to New York city to meet with a friend. Several hours after their meeting time, her friend was calling to see if Ino had even left; she'd never shown.

Although Ino had later been found (she'd boarded the wrong train and had ended up going south instead of north), it had lit something of a fire under Shikamaru's pants, and he'd rigged his computer to track cell phone signals (2). Sasuke couldn't understand the piece of equipment if his life depended on it, but even Shikamaru admitted that it was a hassle to use, and that he'd only do it for emergencies. It was too much trouble trying to get into the cell phone companies' networks, not to mention the fact that it was also highly illegal.

Sasuke had a sneaking suspicion that Shikamaru had tracked Naruto's cell phone the moment he'd gone missing, but hadn't mentioned it when he found the signal coming from inside their house.

"I found out that it missing when I landed in Japan," Sasuke said, listening closely to the sound coming from the other end of the line. He heard the fainting tapping of keys and a steady hum, but the brunet was quiet. "I was looking for it to call Naruto. I hadn't used it since that morning."

_"That's not like you, to lose your phone," _Shikamaru said. _"So, what? You think Naruto took your phone by mistake?"_

Sasuke snorted. "No. Like anyone could ever mistake that orange atrocity."

_"Then why am I looking for it?" _The tapping stopped as he waited for an answer.

"Because I think whoever took Naruto has it."

_"What would Naruto's kidnapper be doing with your phone? And how would he have gotten it, anyway?"_

"I don't know how the hell he got it," Sasuke snapped, temper flaring once again. "And he'd use it to call Naruto. Ever hear of caller ID, dumbass?"

_"Naruto would know it wasn't you with the first word he heard over the phone."_

"You can change your voice on the phone. With--something, I don't know. If you can track down cell phones from a rundown Mac, someone's bound to have the technology to change a simple voice."

Shikamaru snorted. The tapping started up again. _"So someone's out there running around with your boyfriend and your voice, eh?"_

Sasuke ignored the sarcasm. "It isn't just my voice he's running around with."

Shikamaru's next question sounded slightly curious, although thankfully, this time the tapping didn't stop. _"What do you mean?"_

Slowly, Sasuke began to recount his first trip to the hardware store, and then the small interview he'd had with Mrs. Jekyll that morning. He edited out nothing. Shikamaru listened patiently, never interrupting.

When Sasuke had finished, Shikamaru said the first thing that any sane person would say. _"Are you sure you didn't forget about taking a trip there?"_

"I'm positive," Sasuke said. "She said that whoever it was bought an alarm clock. I already have one. It's duct taped to the bedside table. Don't ask," he added.

_"You over-estimate my curiosity. I wasn't going to." _The clicking and tapping had stopped, as did the flow of their conversation. The whirring noise had grown louder, though, and Sasuke absent-mindedly wondered what it was doing.

_"I'm breaking down cell phone towers network by network," _Shikamaru said, as if reading Sasuke's thoughts. _"I'm not getting any significant signal, which means your phone is off." _Sasuke winced. He should have told him that sooner. _"But even if a cell phone is off, it still gives off a signal. It's just going to be a lot harder to track. And finding an active one is hard enough." _The line crackled as he sighed heavily into the receiver. _"This is all so damned troublesome."_

"You're telling me," Sasuke muttered, not bothering to apologize for the inconvenience.

They were silent for well over a minute. Every now and then Shikamaru could be heard tapping a brief sequence of keys, a beep would follow, and then quiet. The brunet was the first to break the silence. _"You know that what you're telling me is complete bull shit, right?"_

"Yes."

_"And that no one will ever believe you?"_

"I know." All too well, he didn't add.

_"And that even though I really, really don't want to, I do?"_

"That's the reason why I told you."

_"Because what you're saying is that you have some type of clone running around out there, driving up your cell phone bill and buying alarm clocks."_

"I'm aware."

_"No offense, Sasuke, but you aren't important enough a person to warrant a cloning."_

"Yes, well, it's not my identity that they're after." And although Sasuke knew Shikamaru would be able to see the motion, nor would anyone else, his eyes narrowed to thin obsidian slits. "It's Naruto."

**November 18, 2005**

"Do you remember this?" Sasuke asked without looking up. With his ungloved hand, he used a finger to trace the outline of what could be seen of the window that seemed to have sprouted straight from Naruto's dream. "This is your old apartment. You furnished the window yourself. Your landlord almost pitched you to the curve." Sasuke's mouth twitched into a small smile that Naruto didn't see. "You always said London never got enough light. That it always had a constant cloud of smog over it."

Naruto didn't answer, and it was when his eyes began to water that he realized he hadn't closed them in quite a while. He blinked rapidly, and his eyes stung, the watering worsening for a moment before the lids of his eyes washed away the evidence of his shock.

Focusing every fiber of his being on keeping his voice from breaking, Naruto cracked a wise-ass remark. "This is stupid."

Again, disappointment clouded the vampire's eyes, and Naruto had to remind himself he'd known him for less than _forty-eight hours_, that he shouldn't care, that the person he loves the most might not even know he was missing yet. That thought cleared the image of the dream-apartment clear from his head. The idea that every organ inside of his body was screaming for home, screaming for _him_, and Sasuke probably didn't even know it, was damn near unbearable. He gulped against the sudden nausea that bubbled in his stomach..

Sasuke let the subject drop, and he flipped the page. On the left was another picture of the apartment, and Naruto saw the easels, the table, although the rolls of schematic had been cleared away.

"This was your work area," Sasuke explained. "You helped to design the new department building right down the street, and you were working on the highway plans."

"Was I?" Naruto said blandly. He couldn't force sarcastic nonchalance into his voice, so he settled for a dead tone of voice.

Sasuke ignored it, and pointed to the next one. To Naruto's immense relief, he didn't recognize this one.

"That's the bakery from downstairs," Sasuke said. "You got your coffee there. You were never much of a tea maker." Sasuke chuckled suddenly. "Never much of a tea maker, either, judging by your companions complaints."

Naruto didn't know whether Sasuke was talking about Sasuke, or about the friends in his supposed fellow life. In order to change the topic of conversation, he flipped the page over. On this yellowed page was a picture of a rundown looking shop. The windows were boarded halfway, and posters hung on every available space, although the image was too blurry for Naruto to make much else out.

"You worked there," Sasuke said. "Or, more specifically, your employers did. You tried starting a business with these people." He frowned, pale lips going a bit thin. "They did something terrible. Do you remember what it was?"

"No."

"Are you sure? It's rather hard to forget."

"Positive. What, did they kill my dog or something?"

"No. And you never had a dog. You had a cat."

Naruto groaned, shook his head, and pointed to the next one. "What's this?"

"I suppose it's best that you don't remember," Sasuke sighed. "And that was the police station. Can't you see the sign?"

"I can't see much of anything in these crappy pictures, asshole."

"Who says that it's the fault of the quality. Perhaps it is the fault of the photographer, hm?"

Naruto opened his mouth to snap, "I took the pictures just fine!" and realized the mistake not a moment too soon. Sasuke smirked. He knew it, too.

Naruto continued to look through the pages, and Sasuke forwent his commentary in order to lapse into silent contemplation. His ruby brown eyes stared into the book, the eerie black comma-like designs seeming to sway in place, but it was obvious that his gaze resided on a place far from here.

It didn't matter much. The rest of the photographs were of buildings, of markets, of a patch of trees that grew out of the cobblestone. None were focused on people, and when a face appeared in the photograph, it was blurred beyond recognition.

"You had a field day with that camera," Sasuke murmured when Naruto finally turned to a pair of blank pages. "You thought it was the greatest invention since the stencil."

Naruto didn't bother to tell Sasuke about all the photography classes he'd taken through high school, or how Sasuke used to, in his own subtle manner, push him into pursuing it. How he'd given it up for journalism, how he'd catch himself looking longingly at the closet where he kept his outdated Nixon.

Sasuke probably already knew.

Naruto eyed the other books. If this album contained nothing but pictures of scenery, he wandered if the other books followed a similar pattern. He wanted to ask, so as to know to run if Sasuke tried to open one.

"You're being oddly quiet," Sasuke said suddenly. Naruto looked up and realized that Sasuke's eyes were no longer trained on the book, but on his face, studying it.

"Eh?"

Sasuke closed its ancient cover soundlessly. After his first reaction of utter horror, something Sasuke missed, he himself too transfixed in the picture, every other picture had been relatively normal. Thankfully there were no recognizable people in the photographs, and none of them brought back the same feeling of déjà vu, of distinct familiarity, as the first picture.

"Is something wrong?" Sasuke didn't look interested in the area. He looked more interested in the answer he'd already decided on that was no doubt fully formulated in his head.

He thought Naruto was remembering.

And for that matter, so did Naruto.

But he'd be damned if he'd let Sasuke know that.

"You must remember something from those photos," Sasuke stated. "Tell me. What is it they brought to mind?"

"You want to know what I think of them?"

"Yes."

And Naruto did a second thing, the second in the past forty-eight hours, that he regretted a split second after doing it. With one wide sweep of his arm, he sent the book sailing across the room. It was heavy, so instead of hitting the wall, it slid across the floor a few feet before smashing into a table leg. The binding tore the rest of the way off. The pictures scattered. And even though they only showed blurred outlines of faceless people, of trees that might as well have been dead for all the color they were showing now, of buildings that looked like they came straight from the illustrations of his high school history textbook, Naruto could see his face staring guiltily up at him from every single page.

Sasuke didn't move for a moment. He stared at Naruto, the mixture of smugness and curiosity on his face not having been cleared away yet, but when it didn't, Sasuke ducked his head and turned to crouch on the floor. He began to slowly gather the scattered pages, patiently, like a small child would gather the pieces of another broken toy a cruel neighbor had once again broke. The "I'm sorry," left his lips before he could catch it, and he was surprised to find that he meant it.

"It's all right," Sasuke said, but he didn't look up to meet Naruto's eyes. He straightened a minute later, the pages and broken cover piled neatly in his arms. He carefully settled it on the table, but even then, instead of looking at his captive, he looked to the other books. "I'm guessing you'd like to save these for another day?"

"You guess wrong." The vampire's eyes met him in the dim light. "I'd like to save them for never, if that's all right with you."

Sasuke's face drew down into a scowl. "I'd--like it very much, Naruto, if you'd be willing to look through these, instead of making me force you."

"And I'd like it very much if you _let me the fuck go_."

Sasuke was quiet for so long that Naruto thought Sasuke was actually considering it. But then….

"For another time, then," Sasuke said, leaning over the taper candle. A second later, he'd blown the candle out, and Naruto caught a brief whiff of smoke before darkness overrode all of his other senses. Naruto gripped the edge of the table. The trap door looked rather far away, all of a sudden.

A cold arm encircled his waist, he was tugged against Sasuke's side, and he was walked quickly to the square door faster than he had time to protest. A moment later, his arm was around the taller man's shoulders, an arm was behind the back of his thighs, and when his stomach soared up towards his lungs he automatically tightened his grip.

The moment his feet touched the floor, Naruto touched back with reality. Growling, he shoved Sasuke away, succeeding only in propelling his own self backwards.

"Don't fucking _do that_."

"Then don't give me reason to. A grown man, and still afraid of the dark."

"That's only because creepy assholes like you come out of it!"

Sasuke smirked. "Are you hungry?"

Naruto blinked, the sudden change in topic nearly giving him whiplash. "What?"

"Food, idiot. Would you like some?"

"Stop belittling my intelligence!"

"Stop making it so easy."

Naruto's teeth clicked sharply shut. His eyes narrowed into a glare, and his hands curled, one more, into tight fists.

Sasuke scoffed. "Come on, then." Sasuke strode past him, towards the staircase, and Naruto's stomach chose that convenient moment to grumble. Scowling, Naruto finally gave up, and followed Sasuke into the kitchen.

**November 28, 2005**

It was well past noon, around 4 'o' clock, and Sasuke was still in the living room. He'd changed into more comfortable clothes--a pair of dark jeans (_"Damnit, Naruto, what did I tell you about wearing my clothes!?" "But they're comfortable!"_) and a cream-colored, flannel turtleneck--and his hair was still slightly damp from his shower. Afterwards, he deposited himself onto the couch by the cordless phone. The TV was blank, its face dark and reflecting everything in the room. The book he'd been reading was unopened, and had started to gather dust. The central air kicked on, and shut off ten minutes later.

Sasuke waited.

And waited.

It was five 'o' clock when the phone rang again, knocking him from his stupor. Almost automatically, his hand reached out, grabbed it, and brought it to his ear. "Uchiha."

_"Hey."_

Sasuke didn't need him to say anything else. If Shikamaru had found anything at all, the first words out of his mouth would have been, "I found it." Instead he got a monotonous, slightly pitying, greeting, completely abnormal for the genius.

Sasuke felt his lungs deflate, and he relaxed into the cushion. Not out of relief, but in exhaustion, in disappointment. What had he been expecting, anyway? Honestly? Nothing worked out like this in real life. He was no detective on a television show, a secret agent in a movie, a criminal investigator in a book. He was Sasuke Uchiha, going to school for a degree in biochemistry, not law, not forensics. He was Sasuke Uchiha, the minor character in the plot who had to sit back and watch the main characters duke it out, whether to death or to the happy ending, providing nothing but side stories and comic relief. Was it funny? Was his life, his misery, that entertaining?

_"You there?"_

"I'm here," Sasuke said in a voice that sounded very unlike his own. Or perhaps his hearing was impaired by the rapid thudding of his heart, distorted from the road of the blood rushing throughout his body.

_"I've checked all the cell phone towers in the state," _Shikamaru said. _"You were right. Whoever has Naruto probably has it. I can't find the signal." _There was a break in his explanation, almost as if he were debating whether or not to say something_. "I'm sorry."_

"It isn't your fault," Sasuke heard himself say. "It was a long shot anyway."

_"Yeah, well." _Shikamaru cleared his throat awkwardly. _"It isn't a lost cause yet. There are still the bordering states. I'm going to set the system up to run checks throughout stations county by county. It'll go a bit slower to do it in batches, but it gets more done, so--"_

"Don't bother." They both knew they wouldn't find it. "You don't have to."

_"I'm not doing it for you, Sasuke. I'm doing it for Naruto."_

_Shut up. You know there's no chance._

"Look all you want, then." And before Shikamaru could reply, Sasuke hit 'END', and placed the phone back into its cradle. It didn't ring again.

The pounding in his head intensified.

From his seat on the sofa, Sasuke reclined even further back, head propped on one arm that he looped over the headrest. He had a mug of black coffee that was rapidly cooling on the side table, and it was only a few minutes ago that he realized why. He'd forgotten to turn the heat up. Less like forgotten, really, and more like neglected. He didn't care much. He liked the excuse to continue his manic coffee runs. The caffeine kept him awake and alert most of the day, and the crash that came after it was potent enough to knock him out into a deep, dreamless sleep for a few hours.

The cordless phone set on the table innocently enough, taunting him, and he wanted to pick it up and call someone, yell at them, yell at them for anything, to fix what he couldn't. Either that, or throw the thing at a wall. A small red light above the LSD screen starting to blink a second before it began to ring. Sasuke eyed it lazily. 6:02, it said. He'd been sitting in the same spot for hours, and had sat here with the same cup of coffee for nearly two. The day was more than half-way gone, and nothing was done. He was beginning to think that nothing would ever get done.

The phone stopped, and started back up again after ten seconds. Sasuke's eyes drifted from it to stare out the window again. It was a clear gray day, and the snow on the ground magnified the meager light to an almost painful level. It was a snow day for the public school, he knew. He could see children playing in the yard. Parents shoveled away at the driveways, swept snow from the tops of their cars with wide-headed brooms. The roads were barren and brown with dirt, ice, and salt, and a lone black sedan dwindled down slowly like a single leaf floating atop a river.

The phone stopped.

And began to ring again.

As he watched the light bounce from the windows, the cars, the snow, he felt like it was all focused on him, just waiting for him to do something, anything, extraordinary or fruitless. Anything but sit here like Sherlock Holmes without his magnifying glass. Anything but Romeo without a Juliet. Anything. Anything.

When the phone started through its fourth set of rings, and the black sedan grew larger, and the children's laughter and play grew dimmer, more distant, Sasuke finally picked up.

He did not get a chance to speak.

_"Sasuke." _He almost didn't recognize Sakura's voice. It was cracking and trembling and afraid, rushed, hurried and hoarse. _"Get out of the house now."_

"W--"

_"Climb out the back window, run, don't come here, but get out of the house! They're coming!"_

The line went dead.

And the black sedan crept closer.

--

(1) A TV show that used to air, where the Candid Camera staff played pranks on people and caught it on film.

(2) My experience on this matter only extends to the _Law and Order _shows I've watched. Please feel free to completely disregard everything I've said on the matter.

_I'll be without internet access for the next week, so if you send me any questions, expect a little bit of a delayed response._

_**-Kodak**_


	8. Raw

**November 19, 2005**

When Naruto woke up for the third time since his abduction, it was in yet another position of discomfort, this one new. Now the pain had localized in his arms, and they ached from where he'd been laying over them, both ligaments stretched oddly above his head. It was a testament to how deeply the vampire had addled his brain that he wasn't even surprised when he heard a dunk _clunk _when he shifted his hands.

_Yup. My arms are chained to the bed post._

Naruto sighed, and groaned.

_Damn him. God fucking damn him._

His second thought, coming after the realization that he was trapped to a vampire's bed who had intentions that, so far, proved to be a far cry from friendly, was that he was warm. Overly warm. Hot even. Definitely something he shouldn't be feeling in the Winter. Naruto could feel his pants and shirt sticking uncomfortably to his skin, sweat clinging between his thighs and along the small of his back. He'd been laying flat, and a thick comforter was tucked firmly underneath his sides--_that's so sweet, I think I'll get a cavity_--and the fireplace was gleaming with a thick coat of orange light. Outside the windows, the sky was dark and heavy, looking cold even from inside the suffocating room.

_I can't believe it… I slept through the entire day._

It was like he'd been doused with a boiling hot bucket of water. Naruto was instantly alert, like he'd been awake all day. Like he'd woken up at 10 A.M. instead of 10 P.M. _Fuck, the last thing I need to do is get used to this._

Naruto winced when he attempted to stretch his back. With his heels he dug down, drawing his body downwards, trying to pop his shoulders and relieve some of the stress. But the blankets were wound too tightly around his torso for him to make much leeway.

_Why did he even bother with the handcuffs? _Naruto thought bitterly. _The blankets would have been more than sufficient._

_…and where the Hell did he go?_

Even if Naruto didn't need to stretch his arms, he'd still have to get out of these swaddling covers before he died from heat stroke. So he began at his legs, inching them left and right, using his toes to clench the sheets and pull, uprooting it from under his body. He turned left, turned right, felt them come loose. He kicked his feet until the tangled and damp-with-sweat sheets loosed from the noose-tight fit around his legs. After that, he thrashed his legs until he managed to get the things off of him. Then, out of pure resentment, he kicked them off of the bed.

"There…"

Naruto took the time to look around the room. There was no note on the pillow, nor on any viewable surface. The blinds and been untied and swung loosely from their metal racks. Soft drops of rain kissed the mesh screen outside the window like drops of dew, muddling his view of the outside. The grass would be gray with frost the next morning.

Naruto twisted once again, looking towards the door. It was shut tightly, and he didn't even need to try to jiggle the doorknob to know that it was locked. The blond man lay still on the bed for a few moments, silent, allowing his skin to breathe and his ears to pick up the sounds from downstairs. Or lack of sound.

Naruto cleared his throat. "Oi," he called. "Bastard."

No answer.

Naruto frowned. "Hey! Bastard, where are you?"

Still, nothing.

"_Asshole!"_

The fire crackled and a shower of sparks skittered across the back of the fireplaces. The logs were thick and looked barely charred, stack up like an extremely tall teepee and layered in a way Naruto had seen in bonfires, so that when one log burned away, the new log would fall on the embers and catch. It was meant to keep the fire burning without much help.

Naruto swallowed heavily.

"**YOU FUCKING BASTARD, ANSWER ME!"**

_Where the fuck is he!?_

Nothing, nothing, nothing. Naruto groaned heavily. He lifted his head only to let it plop down on the pillow again. The vampire was gone. Naruto didn't know where, or when or if he'd be back (although he was nearly positive that he would, one could still hope). All he knew was that Sasuke'd built a large fire to keep the room warm for what was obviously meant to be a long time. And he'd tucked Naruto in with layer upon layer of blankets to--

…._shit._

--keep him warm.

Blankets which now lay on the floor, far out of reach.

_Shit. Shit. __**Fuck.**_

__Naruto looked over at the digital clock that was a clone of the one back home. _10:16._

_This is going to be a long night…_

_11:39_

Naruto hadn't fallen asleep. Laying here like a log was making him drowsy, but he didn't want to sleep yet. That would be entertainment for another hour. Instead he'd been studying outside the windows, letting his eyes adjust to the dark, squinting for any sign of light in the boarded up windows. Nothing. No one. He contemplated shouting for help, but he knew no one was around. This area was condemned. This house was condemned. The only residents were a vampire, his hostage, and the cat-sized rats that ran the dark alleys Naruto could see outside the window.

He didn't shout for help.

Besides, he was too tired. So tired.

_So tired…._

_…where…._

_1:12_

When Naruto woke up again, he was shivering. The fire was now a dusky red below the grates, the last log having been slowly devoured away to dirty clumps of ash. There was no warmth, and the covers he'd kicked off not three hours ago were tempting him, just out of reach. Tiredly, he lifted a foot to inch over, but snapped it back instantly. Lifting a limb from its warm spot on the mattress was suicide. It was cold. Too cold….

_2:59_

Naruto had never thought that there would be a time when he would short sheet his own bed, but it had come. With enough energy, he forced his numbing toes to clench tightly into the thin sheet stretched over the mattress and to jerk it to the side, then the other, then back again, until it unfurled from the cornered and sprang up. The cotton was thin as silk, and just as cold, but after he twisted it around his legs and brought them up to curl underneath himself, they worked just fine.

_3:30_

His wrists felt raw by now. He'd been tugging at them for the past half hour, trying to work himself up into enough of a sweat to lubricate his wrists, just enough to squeeze through the metal bracelets. But it was Winter, and his skin was chapped dry. His struggling earned him angry pink marks that soon turned to red, burning whenever they came into contact with something.

Naruto growled under his breath. He was too cold to sleep, he thought. His whole body was shaking. Clenching his eyes shut, thinking, _That God-damned bastard, _one last time, Naruto drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

_4:49_

_I'm tired, _Naruto listed. _And I'm cold. I'm alone. I'm hungry. I need to use the bathroom. I need to punch his face in. _Naruto was making lists now. This was his fifth list in fifteen minutes, and now he was on the Things I Need to do in the Immediate Future list. He was running out of things to add. _Give my bastard his second kiss. Damnit why didn't I when I had the chance, what's so great about fucking Japan, we could have stayed home, locked in a room, for two whole weeks, I wouldn't care if I were cold or hungry or needed to pee or was chained to the bed, if he was just _there…

It was like he was psychic. Like he'd heard Naruto thoughts and had come running. Well, walking, really. Naruto strained his ears. Yes. He heard right. Footsteps, on the stairs.

_I'm going to kill him._

More footsteps. Naruto had never been so sure in his entire life.

_I am going to gauge his eyeballs out. And if I can't, I will try and try until I do._

**Click**

In the blink of an eye, Sasuke was standing in the threshold of the door. Naruto couldn't see the details of his face, but from the outline of his body structure, he could tell. Then Sasuke stepped into the room further, like he was hesitant. _He should be. I will flay him alive. He'll never have experienced pain like this in his entire pathetic existence--_

And then Sasuke's eyes sank a level and met his through the darkness.

And he did not look amused.

--

It was times like these that Sasuke found that he purely disgusted himself. Back at home, waiting in a warm, welcoming, familiar room was his lover, tied to a bed and with no way to escape, just laying there. With warm skin. Bright eyes and bright hair to counteract every single one of his own dark and ugly features. Waiting with a foul and beautiful mouth. Waiting, perhaps fearing, for his return. Waiting for the only man with the key to let his hands down. Waiting without a choice.

Yes, Sasuke had the single most important thing in his world waiting at home.

And he was stuck in the room of a young teenage girl with the nearly irresistible urge to tear the clothes off of her body.

It was painful, but Sasuke had to force himself to watch, to listen, to smell. He let his mind wonder as to what the skin of her thighs would feel like. He imagined his fingers slowly creeping upwards to the gap between her legs and finding that warm place where the suddenly intoxicating smell was coming from. He could see the slight swell of her developing breasts beneath her night shirt, and he wanted to lift the cloth up and over them, to unbutton his own shirt, and press their chests together, just to feel her nipples harden against his cool skin. He wanted to watch her face, her eyes clouded in desire. He wanted to lick her cheeks and her mouth.

Sasuke wanted all this. He felt his eyes roam and wonder, let himself become aroused, just watching, just fantasizing. He did this, all the while sitting on the edge of her bed, because it was safe. Sasuke would do nothing to this girl who barely looked fifteen. He'd never found himself particularly attracted to the soft curves of women, except when in this lust ridden state. He preferred firm backs, rippling with muscle, as opposed to pliant flesh as easy to mold as clay. He wanted hard muscle, a challenge, something to conquer and to press down beneath him, something that would put up a good fight before it let Sasuke have his way with it. His eyes strayed down to her covered arm, which had beneath the shirt sleeve quickly healing bite marks. He licked his lips, tasted sweet copper, licked them again, imagining himself licking something else. Wanting to. Wanting so _badly _to feel her thrash beneath him.

Yes, Sasuke let himself feel it all. Just to avoid thinking of what he really wanted.

He'd gone to great measures to put as much distance between himself and Naruto as possible, just in case of the event where his mind would wonder to that warm room, that warm, powerful, vibrant body pulsing with so much life, so much courage, so much of everything Sasuke desired.

Sasuke's eyes tightened. He shut his eyes momentarily, and treated himself to a brief flash of memory from so many years ago. Of tanned arms, defined hipbones, feeling warmth beneath his palm, lips pressing into his neck and teeth biting as if Naruto thought that _he _were the vampire.

And then he refocused his eyes on the girl. He gently lifted a hand, placed it on her thigh, and stroked the skin to induce deeper fantasies, burying himself in them, protecting himself.

He couldn't be with Naruto now. If he did, he worried he wouldn't be able to control himself. And he'd have to let Naruto go. Naruto deserved better than a man who could not contain his lust. Sasuke was not a fool. In this stage of post-feeding, it would be next to impossible to control the need and the want. It wasn't worth the risk. He could remain here, in cowardice and weakness, for a few more hours.

It had been fifteen minutes, according to the alarm clock on her bedside table, since he'd entered this room with his pale pink walls and white carpet, colorful collages of photographs appearing black and white in the darkness. Sasuke could still feel the fresh blood coursing through his veins like liquid heat, the erection between his legs pulsing madly, furiously, hungrily. His hand crept higher, feeling soft skin underneath her pajama pants, imagined for a moment tanned and slightly rough skin, his hand slipped higher, knowing this wasn't what he wanted, wasn't anywhere close to what he needed, basking in the safety of his dark and twisted actions. Solstice in what could have been called molestation.

_I'm disgusting._

_But I'm safe._

An hour. An hour in this room, to help cool his blood, then perhaps an hour on the streets. He would walk home instead of taking the bus, just to make absolutely sure he was safe, and the walk would surely take over an hour. Naruto could wait that long. Sasuke would be back around midnight. He'd cook Naruto dinner, and they could talk. Maybe something more, depending on how Sasuke's luck ran. He was sure that with the proper persuasion--

And then, the girl began to scream.

Sasuke's hand flew from her leg like he'd been burned. He could count on one hand the number of times his victims had woken up while he was still in the room. In all cases, the humans had been particularly young. Out of what was undoubtedly a twisted sense of logic, he was mildly concerned for their safety and chose not to use the pressure points on their neck to insure unconsciousness. Most teenagers, he knew, slept like logs, and barely felt the sting of the bite. But from the few times he'd been proven wrong, he always made sure that it was him that had awoken them, not some twisted nightmare. Twice, the screaming victims had spotted him, and Sasuke had fled, probably to remain a horrible hallucination. One the person was sleep, flailing in night terrors. Once it was a woman who, upon spotting him, smirked and lifted the sheets off her body.

This girl, this small human, was asleep when Sasuke checked. Eyes as tightly closed as her mouth was widely opened, a terrified scream of "NO!" rattling every vein in Sasuke's body. He remembered recent "no's", and the reminder effectively banked the heated fire of his lust.

Refusing to wallow a moment more in self-loathing, Sasuke stood, prepared to head for the window. He didn't want to be around when she woke up. He would sit on the rooftop, let the cold air chill out the rest of the heat from his bloodlust--

And then Sasuke heard footsteps out the door.

The bed was situated in the middle of the far wall. The far wall connected to it had the window, swollen with cold, difficult to open without making a racket. And Sasuke was on the right side of the bed.

The footsteps were closer now. The window was far away.

Under the bed was closer.

Sasuke had ducked down to his knees and slid underneath the bed with one stroke push if his arms, sliding across the carpet and beneath he box springs, just as the door to the small bedroom flew open.

"Kirstin!?"

"M-mom…"

The light flickered on, and even from the shadows of the bed provided, Sasuke winced. He'd been mistaken about the colors of the walls. They weren't painted a sensible pale pink, but an obnoxiously bright shade of the color, making it hard too look at.

Sasuke saw the bare feet of a women coming closing, stopping a foot from his face, before the disappeared as she climbed onto her daughter's bed.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" A soft cooing voice.

"J-just a b-ba-bad dream, mom…"

Silence. Sasuke prayed the woman was a poor parent and would just leave it at that. He prayed she'd stand up, get the kid a glass of water or something, turn off the light and let Sasuke get the Hell out of here.

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

_No_, Sasuke thought. _Be like every teenager of your cursed species and tell her 'no'._

"It was about J-Jason," the teenage girl said shakily. "H-he… he dumped me!"

"Oh, baby…."

Sasuke bit back a groan. This, he knew, was going to be one of the longest nights of his mercilessly long life.

**November 20, 2005**

Naruto felt that he had never been so amused in his life.

"Th-they watched _what_?"

"That ridiculous movie with the ABBA songs," Sasuke snorted in disgust, turning his head away, nose scrunching up as if he'd just bitten into something rotten.

"'Mama Mia'?" Naruto asked. At the slight nod of the vampire's head, another peal of laughter threatened to make Naruto choke on the food in his mouth. "A-and then w-what?"

Sasuke snorted. "Then they both started bawling their eyes out and, like they hadn't run their mouths off to each other already, they talked _more_. I never knew two people could spend so long talking about so little."

Naruto leered. "Did the birds and the bees come up?"

Sasuke winced. "Several times. Always about giving your virginity away to someone spe--knock it off, Naruto, you're going to choke." Sasuke leaned across the bed to thump between Naruto's shoulder blades. "Idiot. Don't chew and try to hold a conversation at the same time."

"I can't breathe," Naruto gasped, pricks of laughter-induced tears stinging at the corners of his eyes. "I can't breathe." Sasuke sighed, rolling his eyes slightly, and waiting for Naruto to finish.

He managed to stop laughing long enough to swallow the mouthful of pork in his mouth, and when the laughter returned, it was quiet, more subdued. Naruto sat cross-legged on the bed, his arms slightly tingly after the uncomfortable position he'd been forced in for eight solid hours. In his lap sat a large plastic bowl full of re-heated ramen, which Sasuke had unearthed from the fridge.

_"Given up on cooking already, eh, bastard?" _Naruto teased.

_"No, but I thought you might like something you actually enjoy eating after--well--"_

_"After you kept me chained to the bed for half the day?"_

_"It wasn't _that_ long, dead-last."_

_"Ch. Whatever."_

"So when did you finally get out of there?" Naruto asked, dropping the bamboo chopsticks into the bowl before tilting it back, gulping down the last of the still hot broth. Sasuke waited until Naruto had finished, eyes glazing over for a moment when Naruto's tongue darted from his mouth to lick the salty taste from his lips, before he answered.

"Just an hour ago," Sasuke answered. "I left here at seven, and went into the house at eight. I'd only planned on staying until midnight before heading home." A slight crease wrinkled between his eyebrows as he said, "I'd planned on coming back no later than one." A pause, and then, sounding as if it caused him actual pain, "I apologize."

Naruto wasn't so hung up on the apology as he was another part of Sasuke's explanation. "You were going to stay in the town until midnight?" Sasuke said nothing, which Naruto took to be a 'yes'. "Do you… um, _feed _from more than one person?"

"No. Just one will do."

"So, what, you were just going to hang around her room like a creepy stalker for two hours?"

Sasuke frowned at the word "stalker", but nodded the affirmative anyway.

A slow grin began to creep onto Naruto's face. "And? You stayed to enjoy the preteen daughter-mother bonding? I never pegged you as the type to--"

"Actually," Sasuke cut him off coldly, "I was staying so that I wouldn't be tempted to come back here and force you into something you so obviously do not want."

Naruto grinned inanely for a moment before it slipped off his face, guilt hitting him sharply in the gut. Sasuke put himself in danger, risked being caught, just so--

"It's strange," Sasuke muttered. Then, "Are you finished?" He looked pointedly at the emptied ramen bowl. Naruto didn't reply, still in a state of faint shock from the overwhelming wave of guilt that had just swallowed him whole. Sighing, Sasuke picked it up, as well as the now empty bottle of water he'd brought up along with him, and set it down on the floor before straightening up.

Slowly, Naruto stretched his legs out in front of him, feeling the blood rush to the tips of his toes and back as he relaxed a bit, propping himself against the pillows. The past few days had undoubtedly been the worst, oddest, and most frightening ones of his entire life, and he was still amazed that he hadn't grown accustomed to the vampire's blunt remarks.

When Sasuke gave no evidence that he was going to elaborate, Naruto asked, "Strange how?"

Sasuke took a moment, seemingly to contemplate his answer, before replying, "It's common knowledge that a human can rape another human. One can say that it is a common occurrence, practically normal." Naruto opened his mouth to snap something particularly nasty, but Sasuke ploughed on before Naruto could get a word in edgewise. "Yet, it's this seemingly human thing that scares you the most. A constant threat you live under every day, and yet it scares you the most when I'm around. Not my strength, not my immortality, not my teeth…"

"It isn't a constant threat," Naruto muttered weakly, knowing it was a weak retort. But he didn't know how to answer Sasuke's unvoiced question. He felt threatened, certainly. He knew that if Sasuke so desired, he could have Naruto in an instant and the blond human wouldn't get a say. Yet he didn't. He stopped himself. He swallowed his pride and hid under the bed of a teenage girl, listening to what was probably the most annoying music known to man, all for Naruto's peace of mind--

"Naruto?"

Naruto didn't realize he'd looked away until his eyes snapped back to Sasuke's face. "What?" he asked.

Sasuke inched closer. Out of stubbornness, not instinct, Naruto reclined a bit further. Not to be outdone, Sasuke leaned in until his face was hovering not a foot from the human's. Slowly, he curled back his upper lip, causing a deep set of wrinkled to form between his mouth and nose. It would have been amusing, the sight of Sasuke's face scrunched up like that, if it weren't for his teeth.

It was the first time Naruto had seen Sasuke's fangs so very close. They were where normal canines would have been, only about twice as wide, looking like they'd pushed the rest of the teeth on the top row back. From there they narrowed down smoothly, creating a triangular gap between them and the rest of the teeth, before forming the sharpest point Naruto had ever seen. He could detect no dullness in the final edge of the fangs, and Naruto knew that if he were to even tap his finger against one, his skin would break immediately. They were sharper than any knife Naruto had ever seen. Sharper than the blades of the ornamental katana he and Sasuke had hanging over their bed at home. By all reason, Naruto should have shrunk back in instinctual fear at the sight of them.

But he didn't. Like a Vietnam war veteran would regard a gun, Naruto surveyed them in vague curiosity. Like he'd already gone over them dozens of time before, and the fear had dulled so far down that it wasn't even there anymore.

"You aren't afraid now," Sasuke said, settling back further on the beg, leaning back on his outstretched arms. "But you used to be."

Naruto snorted. "Really?" he remarked n a sarcastic tone.

"Yes," Sasuke hummed. "It took me forever to get you to kiss me."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I've never kissed _you_," he hissed. "And even if I did, your little fangs would be the last thing to turn me off."

Only the tightening of his eyes was the only thing to give away Sasuke's slight annoyance. Otherwise ignoring the quip, he said, "You were always afraid of cutting your lip, or your tongue. And you did for a while." A slow smirk formed on Sasuke's lips. "I liked that."

Naruto grimaced. "You would."

"You got better after a while," Sasuke amended. "After a year you didn't cut yourself at all. In fact…" Sasuke cocked his head to the side and surveyed Naruto through half-lidded eyes. The blond swallowed. "I'm sure that if you tried now, you wouldn't lose a single drop of blood."

"Wow," Naruto said dryly. "You make it sound so tempting. But I think I'm fine without the making out part. Thanks for the offer, though."

"Suit yourself." Sasuke leaned back, but not far enough to make Naruto comfortable. Instead of reclining to his earlier position, propped up on his arms, Sasuke stretched his arms over Naruto's outstretched legs to reach the other side of the mattress, leaning invasively over Naruto's lap. Sasuke didn't seem the least bit bothered by their suddenly intimate position, but Naruto most definitely was.

"So," Naruto muttered, "did your delusional past me let you get by with all this shit?"

Sasuke rose an eyebrow in confusion, obviously not understanding.

Naruto sighed. "All of this--controlling crap. Your possessive shit. Did he just let you trap in on the bed whenever you wanted?" He waved an arm at Sasuke's position, showing in what he though a clear gesture of discomfort.

Sasuke didn't seem to get it. Either that, or he was just ignoring it. "It is not controlling," he corrected. "But--yes, you were far more compliant than you are now."

Naruto snorted. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but you must have the wrong wuss, then. My Sasuke never pulled the shit that you do."

"Then your Sasuke is a weak man," Sasuke hissed softly. His eyes, so heated with their crimson color, became colder, just as they did whenever his human counterpart was brought up. "Only fools believe that they and their partner are equal. One will always be above the other."

"That's not true!" Naruto snapped. "That's the big fucking difference between you two, you know that?"

"Oh?"

"Yeah. One of you is a chauvinistic _asshole _and the other is a decent human being."

Sasuke's frown didn't deepen. In fact, it lifted somewhat to form half a smirk. From his slouched position over Naruto's legs, he looked almost bored with their conversation, and desperately in need of a long sleep. Or a good lay. "If you two were so equal," Naruto flinched at the vampire's use of past tense, "then I'm sure you won't mind telling me of your place whilst in bed."

Naruto frowned. Instantly a blush licked his cheeks to a fiery red color. He'd love to reply "equal" in a firm and final tone, but as Sasuke has pointed out earlier, Naruto was a horrendous liar. Once in a while, perhaps once in a month or two, Naruto got the urge to take the more dominant role, and after an hour's worth of persuasion, Sasuke would let him. _Let _him.

"That's different," Naruto snapped. "Just because I like--er, prefer--"

"You like to be on the bottom," Sasuke finished for him, completely nonplussed. "You prefer the submissive role over the dominant role, for reasons you cannot explain. You enjoy handing control over to your partner, because in giving yourself away, you access a whole new level of freedom. Freedom of responsibility. Your sexual needs and desires are rooted within this unconscious recognition of your place of power in your relationship. Just like your Sasuke's was. I doubt he ever willingly submitted to you, did he? At least, not without an argument."

Naruto grit his teeth, eyes darkening in rage as Sasuke's lit up in amusement.

"In a way, you're the same now as you were back then," Sasuke said, lifting a hand to tap his fingers lightly along the inside of Naruto's knee. Almost unconsciously, Naruto's legs split further apart to avoid any further contact. One he realized what he'd done, his blush deepened. Sasuke smirked. "You were resilient at first, but after a while, you became--adjusted to it. You weren't used to the idea of a homosexual relationship and, like I said, it took me months just to make you kiss me back.

"The point is that I'm telling you now what your pathetic human boyfriend never had the gall to point out. There is no such thing as a relationship in which the two stand on equal ground. Whether it be in social status, or in personality traits, or in bed, there will be one who domineers, and one who is subjected to it." Sasuke's head cocked to the side. "It's odd. I doubt that you're completely oblivious to this fact, and yet--you react only when I say it out loud. Do words truly bother you?"

"Words don't," Naruto denied, finding his voice again. "Lies do." He had wanted to interrupt Sasuke's little self-important speech before he finished his first sentence, but the confidence shining so clearly through ruby eyes was enough to quiet his instincts. It seemed, no matter what he did, it was always coming up short to what Sasuke said or did. Like the vampire had truly gone through this whole charade once before, and was pulling the same tested theories twice.

And, to Naruto's utmost annoyance, they were working.

"I'm not lying. Haven't I already said that I wouldn't?"

"I don't believe a word coming out of your mouth!"

Sasuke snorted lightly. "There's no reason not to," he said confidently, a calm mask washing away the errant smirk and replacing it with cool nonchalance. It pissed Naruto off even more, that uncaring expression. Like Naruto's arguments were petty and not to be paid too close attention to, lest Sasuke lose a few brain cells. "Everything I have ever said to you has been the truth, you fool. There is nothing to gained by lying."

"Yeah, well, the only thing you're gaining now is the increased chance of a black eye. So shut your face, you bastard." Naruto regretted the threat almost instantly. He knew as well as Sasuke did that it was an empty one. Naruto had a better chance of sprouting wings and flying than he did of giving a condescending creature of the night a shiner.

Sasuke chuckled, the laughter breaking his calm façade. "Oh, will you?" he asked. "Such tall words. Tell me, are you truly that dense, or was it a knee-jerk reaction to my telling you that you prefer it on your back with your legs spread?"

Naruto snapped.

Sasuke sighed, a look of annoyance flashing across his features and dismissing the brief spurt of amusement. The blond had recoiled his legs, sprung up to the balls of his feet, crouched, and lunged like a half-wild cat. A rolling of the eyes was the only warning Naruto got before he was promptly spun over and pinned to the bed, one hand clenching his wrists, the other pressing heavily into his chest.

"Stop it," Sasuke said bluntly. "You're just going to hurt yourself."

Naruto snarled, tugging at his restrained wrists, hips arching as he attempted to push the heavier male off of him. All it got him was a darkening of the vampire's scarlet eyes, a more devious twist to his lips that Naruto understood all too well. He let his back fall limply to the bed, glaring with every angry fiber of his being.

"Go shower," Sasuke ordered, and he released Naruto's hands as quickly as he had captured them. "Cool off that temper of yours. When you're finished, fresh clothes will be waiting for you, and you and I will go to bed."

Naruto made no move to straighten himself from his reclined position on the bed. Seeing that Naruto wouldn't relax a single muscle whilst he was in the room, Sasuke stood up and fetched the dinner bowl from the floor. "Wash," he told Naruto before turning and exiting the room. He made no effort to close it.

Naruto scowled at the ajar door. Even this simple gesture seemed condescending. As if Naruto couldn't open a door. No, not that. That Sasuke was allowing him to leave. If he hadn't given open permission, the door would be closed and surely locked.

The blond human weighed his option. He could continue to hold to his principles and refuse the order, and just sit here until Sasuke had to literally chain every limb to the bed before Naruto would lay still long enough for the vampire to fall asleep. Or he could take a real shower, something he'd been craving for since he'd woken up, and wash away the rancid stench on his skin that was the result of sweating in bed for several hours.

_Choices, choices._

Naruto remained sitting there for a few minutes longer before deciding that there was nothing to be gained by just staying here. Other than to make a bigger fool of himself, of course. And besides, Naruto reasoned, it wasn't so much following orders as it was following through with his originally intended plan.

Naruto padded to the bathroom, scratching the back of his head and ruffling the hair there, feeling how tense the muscles in his arms were. He needed to exercise, soon, lest his limbs start to cramp up the next time he attempted to do a strenuous activity.

The bathroom was as he'd last seen it, only this time, Naruto burrowed through the cabinets behind the mirror. Sure enough, his preferred brand of razor and shaving gel occupied one of the shelves. Naruto found that he didn't need to shave often, and allowed himself to indulge in a more expensive brand because of it. Unlike Sasuke, Naruto could go days without feeling even the brick of a stubble.

Now he ran the blade smoothly up and down his neck, over his chin, across his jaw, sweeping atop his upper lip, finding comfort in the familiarity of the motion. The sharp blade gleamed like silver. He was too much of a coward to pluck the blade form the plastic. He had too much to lose. So much he'd yet to gain. Afterwards, he shed his clothes, and stepped into the shower stall.

He washed himself slowly. Naruto wasn't particularly cold, but he turned the Hot knob as far as he found bearable, letting the gushing water slowly untangle the knotted muscle in his back and arms. Not thinking, just washing. Not remembering, or dreading, barely registering which bathroom he was really in. Naruto had taken showers as long as he could remember. Before he met either Sasuke, before he even started school. It was comforting, unwinding, familiar and untainted with any particularly bad memories.

When Naruto emerged from the bathroom half an hour later, showered, dried, and in the gray dorm pants and long-sleeved flannel shirt he'd found lying innocently on the sink when he stepped out (_When did he sneak in here, and why the _fuck _didn't I notice!?_), he made a snap decision to take residence of the couch. He'd be damned if he spent another five minutes laying next to the vampire and be subjected to creepy, nearly invasive surveillance.

So of course, now that Naruto had made up his mind, deja vu slapped him hard in the cruelest way possible. One minute he was a free man, the next, a cold hand was tugging at him by the elbow, and a thick metal bracelet was snapped into place over his wrist. Naruto groaned. _Of course._

Sasuke tugged at the chain, and it was then that Naruto realized the dual intentions of Sasuke's plan. The shower had cooled his temper, sure, but it had also eased the tension from his back and legs. It had eased it so much, in fact, that his limbs felt like they were full of warm cotton. Suddenly the couch seemed stiff and lumpy, while the bed, however undesirable the company would be, was a small piece of Heaven in this Hell. So Naruto agreed, for now, and grudgingly followed the older man down the short hallway and into the bedroom.

Then, Sasuke had the nerve to lace their fingers together. Enraged, Naruto squeezed down hard enough to make any normal set of fingers snap. But Sasuke just smiled, _smiled, _as if he thought Naruto was returning the romantic gesture. No, wait, he wasn't smiling. He was smirking, wickedly amused eyes dancing in their sockets.

_That God-damned bastard…_

Sasuke had shed his button-down, formal looking shirt and slipped on a pair of sweatpants. Naruto couldn't figure out why Sasuke chose to go shirtless, but he had two theories. The first was that he was showing off how he didn't get cold. The second, and highly more probable, reason was that Sasuke was doing it to make Naruto uncomfortable. Either way, Naruto didn't appreciate it.

Sasuke pulled the covers down and crept in, pulling Naruto by his arm so that he had no choice but to follow suit. Some time while Naruto was in the shower, the vampire had tied down the curtains and rebuilt the fire into a roaring blaze once again. A towering pile of logs burned and crackled. When Sasuke pulled the sheet, the blanket, and the comforter over them, Naruto was instantly immersed in a nearly unbearable level of heat. The warmth from the shower still tingled in his veins. Naruto didn't need the dim light that was floating from the fireplace to know that there was a human-sized ice cube not even a foot away, tempting him closer, just a brush of icy skin to relieve the feverish heat.

Gritting his teeth Naruto shifted back as far as his outstretched arm would allow. Sasuke had his arm curled so that his hand was bunched at his chest, making no effort to help Naruto in his quest to put as much distance between them as possible.

_6:59_

_Damn it's early._

Sasuke didn't bid him a good night as he had done on previous nights. His eyes weren't even open. His breathing was slow, even, blending in perfectly with the soft roar of the fire. Sasuke was exhausted, Naruto knew. The heat was making him dizzy and heady, adding to his exhaustion--_that too, he's doing that too, making it too hot to bear, well like Hell I'm moving even an inch closer to him, like __**Hell**_.

Naruto was tired. The heavy weight of his eyelids was a solid confirmation of that fact. _7:03. Damn it's early. _And Naruto's last thought before he drifted off to sleep was the desire for a stack of freshly made pancakes, oozing syrup, shared over the dining room table with bright light floating in through the windows. No crackling fire, no overbearing heat. Just warm, dark eyes, surveying him fondly behind a calm mask, as they ate breakfast.

--

**Author's Notes: **I don't know if I've made it clear, but Sasuke is incredibly old in this story. I won't tell you how old yet, but his age is counted in centuries as opposed to decades. Lest I offend anyone, please keep in mind that the way he was raised as a child truly stuck with him, and the constant changes in today's society did little to affect his opinions. It's not that his attitude should not be excused, just understood.

Also, a new poll is posted on my profile page that pertains to this story, if anyone's interested.

_**-Kodak**_


	9. Blood

**November 20, 2005**

"Naruto, wake up."

Naruto heard the familiar voice, but refused to fully recognize it. He burrowed his face further into the pillow, his hands, both free now, clenching the sheets tighter about his shoulders. This morning was different then the others. He wasn't waking up in a delusion, only cold, hard reality. His mind was already growing accustomed to the presence of this other man (_no, vampire_) and up to now, this fact depressed him more than anything else.

"Wake up."

"Nng… What?" Naruto finally muttered. He could practically feel the other creeping closer, a hand approaching his shoulder to shake him awake. Naruto wasn't in the mood for contact this morning, no matter how small.

Seemingly satisfied, Sasuke said, "I need to go into town tonight." He paused, then added, "Now."

Naruto was confused, and he opened his eyes to meet Sasuke's gaze. The vampire was keeping an uncharacteristically appropriate distance between the two of them. He was straddling the side of the bed, one leg bent towards his thigh, the other hanging loosely, while Naruto lay curled on the opposite end. Clearing his throat from the rasp that came with sleep, he asked, "Didn't you just do that? I thought you said--"

Sasuke cut him off. "No, this is something different. I need to run to the store." He leaned over the mattress, once again balancing himself on one arm. "Now," he repeated, "before it closes."

Despite the sour mood that he'd been clinging to like a lifeline for the past several days, Naruto still found it in himself to make a semi-subtle jab at the enemy. "What, we out of milk? I told you to pick up a gallon--"

"Are you teasing me?" Sasuke cut him off once more, eyes alight with mischief, mouth drawing into a smirk.

Naruto rolled his eyes before shutting them once more. "No," he muttered petulantly. "Go pick up your makeup or whatever the fuck it is you need." Then he sneered what was probably his undoing. "I'll be here when you get back."

Tone dropping all traces of teasing, Sasuke asked, "Do you promise to behave while I'm gone?"

"'Behave'!?" Naruto squawked indignantly, eyes flying open as he jolted into a sitting position. "Just who the hell do you think you're talking to!?"

"A man whose maturity level never breached that of a twelve-year-old," Sasuke said matter-of-factly, reaching over to the bedside table and picking up the handcuffs he'd obviously removed prior to rousing Naruto from his sleep. "Hold still, I don't want to chafe your wrist."

"What the fuck!? Chafe my wrist? Do I look like a fucking girl to you, asshole!? Hey! _Hey!"_

The struggle was insultingly brief. Naruto kneed Sasuke's hip, then under the ribcage, as the vampire vaulted himself so that he were position between his legs. Sasuke grappled for his wrists, and Naruto retaliated by running the palms of his hands up Sasuke's arms before butting them into the hollow of the vampire's throat, something that would have crushed a normal person's windpipe. Not being a person, however, gave Sasuke an advantage. Shaking his head back, leaning to the left, he dove back in at an angle, crushing one of Naruto's arms between their chests. Heaving heavily for breath, Naruto curled his hands in so his fingers hung like claws and he reached for Sasuke's face. He felt a cold nose press into his palm, slid his hands up, blunt fingernails desperate to reach the painful prize--

Sasuke shook his head once more and, with both hands, caught the free wrist and slammed it into the backboard of the bed. Naruto hissed in pain, his entire arm freezing as sharp jolts of pain made his fingers feel like they were on fire. From there, Sasuke leaned back to grab his other hand until he had them both together. Pinning them there single-handedly, he scooped the cuffs up and circled them through the handlebars, and trapped Naruto's wrists.

"Bastard!" Naruto hissed, yanking at his hands. "Let me the fuck up! I'm tired of being chained to your--to a god-damned bed!"

Naruto's slip of the tongue didn't go unnoticed by Sasuke, who smirked. He cupped one of Naruto's cheeks, pressing one side of his face into the pillow. As Naruto threw a few more colorful profanities, Sasuke swept down to press a chaste kiss against the side of Naruto's mouth.

"Why'd you even bother untying me from the bed in the first place!?" Naruto snapped, bucking his head underneath the cool gloved hand. "You honestly thought I'd just be a good little hostage and wait here for you!?"

Sasuke frowned gently, tapping his fingertips along Naruto's hairline. "Something like that."

"You fucking _ass_hole!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I won't be gone as long this time," he promised. "Anything in particular you'd like?"

"A stake. Not the meat, either."

"Funny," Sasuke said dryly. "Once I see that you've grown tired of your own obstinate behavior, I won't have to do this," he tapped Naruto's cage wrists with the hand that was stroking his cheek, "every time I go out."

"Fuck you right to hell," Naruto said pointedly.

"Have it your way." Sasuke knelt once more. Naruto twisted his head further into the pillow, aiming to hide away his mouth. But the vampire just kissed at the corner of his eye, a breathy chuckle causing goosebumps to rise along his neck, arms and legs. Then he was standing up and sweeping from the room with long, assured strides.

_Click_

Naruto was beginning to despise that sound.

**November 21, 2005**

__Despite his promise not to be gone long, Sasuke didn't arrive until shortly after midnight. Naruto, who'd been dozing out of sheer boredom, jolted to a fully awakened state at the soft sound of the heavy door sliding shut. "Hey!" he shouted after a minute of not hearing any footsteps trailing up the steps. Then, another possibility occurred to him. Maybe it wasn't Sasuke? Maybe it was one of the construction workers, or a neighborhood kid here to vandalize the run down house. "Hey, up here!" As this point, Naruto would have been glad to see a serial killer. Criminals could be bribed. An obstinate vampire could not.

"I hear you, idiot," came echoing from down the stairs. "I'll be there in a minute."

"Screw a minute!" Naruto snarled. "Get the fuck up here and untie me!"

Silence. Naruto heard floorboards squeak, but on the wrong floor. Sasuke sounded like he was heading to the kitchen. Even though Naruto's stomach rumbled with hunger, the pins and needles in his arms rearranged his priorities quite nicely. "How about I tie you to the bed for a few hours, huh!? You've been gone for three hours, the least you could do is come unchain me!"

More silence. Naruto let his head fall back down to the pillow with a loud groan, resigning himself to a few more minutes of severely limited movement. Luckily it wasn't long before Naruto heard footsteps coming up the staircase.

"Finally," Naruto said as the door opened, revealing Sasuke with a Styrofoam container in one hand and a glass of what looked to be orange juice in the other. "Took you long enough."

"You've been here for hours. You could have at least had the patience to wait a little while longer." Sasuke set his load down on the side table before picking the key from his jacket pocket and unlocking Naruto's hands.

"And you could at least tell me when you're going to be gone for hours at a time before saying, 'Oh, it'll just be an hour'."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but did not respond. He pocketed the key and shifted back as Naruto drew up, cautiously rolling his shoulders, grimacing as they cracked loudly. "Here," Sasuke said, picking up the container and handing it to Naruto along with a plastic form. "Lunch."

Naruto opened the lid and saw inside of it a plain bed of white rice as well as another pile of grilled meat, this time chicken teriyaki.

"I got it from the mall," Sasuke told him. "They were open surprisingly late."

"It's getting close to Christmas," Naruto muttered as he speared some food on the prongs of his fork before shoving it into his mouth, his empty stomach growling in contentment. "They extend their hours," he finished through a mouthful of food.

Sasuke nodded and sat beside Naruto on the bed, not watching him, just looking out the window. Naruto was glad for the lack of awkward gazing, and he finished the rest of his meal in silence. When he was done, he set the empty container on the table before asking, "So you were gone for hours just to pick me up some dinner at the food court?"

Sasuke shook his head. "I had some other things to pick up as well." As Naruto picked up his glass to drain the rest of the orange juice, Sasuke's hand drifted casually into his pocket. His hand came out with nothing in it that Naruto could see, but nevertheless he held it out to the blond to take.

"What is it?" Naruto asked, reaching a hand out. Sasuke dropped them into his palm soundlessly. "Well?"

"Vitamins," Sasuke said lightly. "Are you done lunch?"

"Yeah, I'm done. What kind of vitamins?"

"The healthy kind. Do you think I'd give you something to hurt you?"

Naruto shrugged, refusing to answer. Instead he asked his own question. "Why're you giving me these? I'm plenty healthy."

"In light of recent events," Sasuke said, voice stiffening, "I think you should take them."

"What are they, vitamin D? For the sunlight deficiency? You could just take me outside for that."

"You know I can't be out in the sunlight."

"Yeah, so? I can."

Sasuke snorted. "Don't be ridiculous," he chided. "I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"Well you could at least let me go out during the night." Naruto spun the pills around in his palm idly, eyes tracing their dull curves and even duller blue color. "I want some fresh air. You can't make that up with some vitamins."

"Fresh air is highly over-rated," Sasuke said coolly. "Who knows what kind of toxins pollute it outside. In this house it's clean. Go on, breathe it in," he finished sarcastically.

"I didn't mean it was good for my health! I meant it--it's just--what's wrong with me going outside, anyway?"

"Nothing," Sasuke said, enlightenment blooming in his eyes. "I'll make you a promise. You take those vitamins when I give you them, and I'll take you outside whenever you'd like."

"Tell me what they are and I'll take them," Naruto countered.

"Take them and I'll take you outside."

"What is it with you!?" Naruto suddenly snapped. "What's your deal? I just want to know what it is I'm eating before I eat it!"

"You seemed to have no qualms eating what I gave you before," Sasuke said hauntingly. A small smirk graced his lips and he leered. "I could have laced that rice with a potent dose of an aphrodisiac."

Naruto swallowed, a hand unconsciously reaching to press into his stomach.

Sasuke sighed. "I'd never do such a thing," he assured him.

"Good to know," Naruto replied dryly, nothing in his tone expressing any belief in Sasuke's words. "If they're so good for me, just tell me what they are."

Sasuke glared at him, and Naruto stared back evenly. After a stalemate that lasted not even half a minute, Sasuke caved. "Fine. They're B 12. Now will you take them?"

"B 12?" Naruto looked back down at the bills. "What're they for?"

"A variety of things," Sasuke said shortly. Naruto glanced back up at him. "But mostly for the replenishment of red blood cells." He looked pointedly at Naruto's empty glass. "Do you need water to swallow them down?"

But Naruto wasn't deterred. "Blood cells, huh?" Naruto stopped rolling them in his palm and they fell still. "Might've been useful a day or two ago, but not now. I'm feeling better. Not dizzy at all." Naruto held them out. "Here, I don't need them." When Sasuke made no point to take the vitamins back, Naruto frowned. "As touching as your creepy concern in, I'm cool now."

"Just take them."

Naruto frowned. Then, a new memory, Sasuke's words "take those when I give you them", bounced back into the forefront of his mind. "Wait, you said whenever you have them to me. Do you mean--?" The question went unasked, but it was clear as to what Naruto was inquiring about.

The vampire's silence was more than enough of an answer.

Naruto threw the pills so fast that Sasuke actually blinked in shock as they hit his forehead and bounced onto the mattress. "_Fuck you_," Naruto gritted, already making to slide off the bed. "Do I look like a blood bank to you?"

"Actually, yes. All humans are." At the withering look Naruto sent him, Sasuke's tone quickly took on a more pleading quality. "You were just complaining about my prolonged absences. I've been thinking it over. This way, I'd never have to leave you. And it's not like I need much. Just a bit every day, every other day. If you take these," here Sasuke picked up the discarded pills from the mattress and held them out to Naruto, "you'll be fine."

Naruto laughed without humor. He swatted Sasuke's hand away, causing the pills to go flying. "If it comes to the choice of having my arms falling asleep or you sucking my blood like an over-sized leech, I'd take the numb arms any day." Naruto shifted towards the edge of the mattress, fully intent on heading out of this room to do a bit of exploring. But before he could, a hand had threaded into the hair at the top of his head. The touch was gentle, and it made Naruto pause for a moment. What happened next, however, was anything but.

Sasuke shoved forward, gloves fingers still gripping tightly into bright blond locks, pushing Naruto's head down. Crying out in alarm and indignation, Naruto's hands were scrabbling at Sasuke's wrists before his face even hit the pillow. Then there was cold, a heavy weight on it, pressing, pushing at the underside of his arm. His back arched, a cold body fitted itself over him, two legs coming to either side of his hips, holding him in place as a slender neck arched and--

"AHH!"

Two teeth, sharper and thicker than any dagger, sunk without hesitancy into the tender flesh of the underside of his arm, digging through the flannel shirt he wore, piercing flushed skin and sinking through muscles and tissue to draw out a deep swallow of crimson blood. Naruto's breath came in pained gasps, his face contorted in agony, teeth biting into his lips to keep from screaming. It was much more painful than the bite he'd received on his forearm. That had been a piercing pain, followed by the sickening sucks. Now as Sasuke swallowed the blood through the tear in his shirt sleeve, it felt like he was draining a drop of blood from every vein in his arm. The paralyzing torture crippled his arm to the pillow. His fingers twitched, and once again, he felt the urge to vomit.

Sasuke didn't stay long. After a long minute, he sharply unhinged his jaw. This time Naruto really did yelp in pain as the sharp incisors snagged on his skin, tearing it worse, a fresh gush of blood staining his skin. A rough tough wiped at the escaping fluids, drawing it between lips already painted brightly with blood.

Naruto shivered, his right arm, the one Sasuke still mouthed at, was on fire, and if given the chance he'd gladly have it chopped off.

The grip on his arm tightened momentarily, and dark memories of the last time he'd been drained of blood crept upon him. A warm body, muscles as hard as steel and hot as fire, insistent hands pushing, pushing--

Then the hands released him. Naruto crept forward on the bed, falling heavily onto his back, grasping his arm to his side with the opposite hand, gazing at the vampire with wide eyes. Sasuke's lips, still dyed a bright red, gaped as he panted. His eyes were a bright red now, the comma-like dots circling about the pupil seeming to spin due to the dizziness that suddenly plagued his entire body.

Slowly, Sasuke rasped, "I didn't mean to…" A tongue darted out, eyes fluttering shut as he licked his lips of the rest of Naruto's blood. "You shouldn't have made me angry."

"Angry…" Naruto repeated in dumb disbelief. How Sasuke ever had the gall, the _nerve_…

"Leave," Sasuke said, sitting heavily back down. A smear of blood remained on his chin, but instead of licking that off too, he instead swiped it off with the sleeve of his long-sleeve shirt. "I didn't drink much, but still--"

Naruto didn't bother to stay long enough to hear. The dizziness in his head was shock-induced, not blood loss, and it made his mind clear enough to stand on his own two feet. Sasuke didn't look at him as Naruto left, and Naruto didn't know if it was due to shame or the fear of the over-bearing lust that was undoubtedly threatening to once again override all other senses.

The door was open, and although the curiosity of what was downstairs had abandoned him, he still longed for new scenery. Anything to clear the shock and outrage from his mind. The staircase was broken into two sets, a small landing separating the two. Naruto paused there, back brushing the wall as his gaze was drawn up the stairs. He half-expected to see Sasuke there, staring down, eyes demanding he return lest he come to get him himself.

Naruto pushed himself from the wall, and felt his arm burn. Slowly, painfully, he drew the hand of his right arm into his pocket, attempting to stabilize it. To explain the pain, his brain applied the same logic as what a doctor would use to explain the pain of a shot. If they got lucky, they'd hit a vein near the skin. Other shots, however, struck muscle, and it would hurt the rest of the day. The agony in his arm was telling him that the vampire's fangs had dug into muscle, and that no matter how fast the gash healed, the muscle would continue to hurt.

At the bottom of the stairs, Naruto came to what he figured was the living room. Sasuke had removed the sheets, revealing the threadbare furniture underneath. The toolbox was still by the grandfather clock, but it was closed now and the clock ticked the correct time.

Naruto didn't waste much time on the living room. Instead, he traveled to the kitchen, dark save for an oil burner on the old, gutted stove. On the counter were several plastic bags, the words 'THANK YOU' printed in red ink several times down the front. Two were empty, but the other two were still full. Naruto peeled back the side of the plastic bag and peeked inside. A few cups of instant noodles. Some crackers. A box of oatmeal. A few bags with what looked to be fruit, but it was too dark to distinguish what types they were.

And next to these bags was a small bottle, the contents hidden but the name written out on a bright label. **B 12**. Naruto picked it up in his hand, spun it around, looking at it dully. His right arm hung heavily in its socket, his hand sliced with jagged jolts of pain every time it shifted. Slowly, carefully, he set the bottle down, and with one hand pressed down on the lid, twisting it, relying on the friction of the counter to help him open it. It opened, but resulted in the bottle falling to its side, dull blue pills sprinkling over the counter. The blond man stared at them for a few moments, not contemplating, just stall. Then, with a shaking hand, Naruto picked up two, and popped them into his mouth.

--

This night, like the one before it, was again different. Naruto woke up without being surprised by his surroundings, but there was something else, too. He saw something that he hadn't noticed before.

The head of the key to the handcuffs was poking out of Sasuke's back pocket.

It was out of pure luck that Naruto had even spotted it. From the rather translucent look of the curtains, Naruto could tell that the sun hadn't set yet, but even the faintest illusion of light was enough to wake Naruto from his daze. The blond was finding it hard to sleep, like he had a bad case of jet lag. Sleep felt less like slumber and more like a mid-afternoon nap.

Sometime during the day, Sasuke had shifted down and slept in a position that conformed to the shape of Naruto's body, his face pressed into the hollow of Naruto's neck. The human's chin lay an inch or so above the top of Sasuke's head, and when his eyes opened, the second thing he noticed besides the curtains was that he could see down the plane of Sasuke's bare back. His cheeks stung with heat. He knew, just knew, that if he were to run his palms along the skin there, he'd find familiar muscles, familiar planes of skin, that this back would be the exact same he'd memorized over the past few years.

He almost drew his eyes down, but a glint caught his eye. A smudged speck silver. Sasuke slept in a pair of corduroys, and from the pocket, the key winked dully like a sly ally.

Naruto thought, _This is dangerous, this is stupid, if I do this now, if I don't wait, just wait until he sleeps deeper, so he won't wake up--_

_He might turn over._

_Wait, just wait._

_I'm not good with waiting._

_I'm never good at waiting._

_Wait just wait_

Naruto stared hard at the tiny speck of freedom. His one free arm, the one that wasn't tucked under his body, was still chained to Sasuke's and was curled between their chests. To move either one would wake the vampire up, and he didn't need Sasuke waking up to find out Naruto had discovered the location of the key.

It didn't take much thinking time for Sasuke to combine what he knew of his boyfriend and what he knew of this Sasuke to figure out the vampire's personality. Sasuke was a bold person, but he was bold because he was aware that he'd already covered all bases. He slept in the bedroom without fear because the thick curtains were firmly bolted to the floor, He left the house because he'd swaddled Naruto in warm blankets and provided him with a large fire, with both of the man's hands trapped to the bed.

And Sasuke wasn't changing the location of their hideout because he knew that no one would be able to track Naruto to this location. He knew this, and this was the first time he was admitting it. Sasuke was a sure person. It made him want to scream. Or cry.

But now, Sasuke was hiding they key on his person. For some reason unknown to Naruto, Sasuke didn't like to let Naruto wake up chained when he could avoid it. That meant that he had to keep the key close, to avoid waking the blond up. A drawer would have been too obvious. The front pocket too easily accessible. But with the back pocket… the only way Naruto could have found it was if he were feeling Sasuke up, and at that point, there wouldn't be a need for the handcuffs.

Except for this one spark of luck. The sheets had shifted down just enough. Naruto's goal was in site.

And now,

_wait, wait, just wait_

now Naruto needed a plan.

He lay there waiting for a while. Eventually, Sasuke shifted in his sleep so that they were face-to-face, the vampire's cool breath fanning out and across his face. Their close proximity made Naruto nervous, like any moment Sasuke's blood red eyes would snap open like that of a demon in a dime-store quality horror movie. But he didn't. Sasuke slept on for the next several hours. The alarm clock told Naruto that it was nearly eight 'o' clock. So far, Naruto had found himself waking up between nine and ten, and whenever he was, Sasuke was always awake before him. That meant…..

Naruto shifted his weight a bit and watched as Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed inwards. The inevitable night had swallowed the rest of the light, swathing the room in darkness. But Naruto's eyes, well-adjusted by now, could see faint outlines of everything in the room, and Sasuke's face, so close to him, was as clear as a photograph.

Naruto moved again, and this time Sasuke mumbled something under his breath. He was waking up. Naruto's chance was gone--

_No, it was never a chance, I need to wait, to wait, until the middle of the day when he's fast asleep, I can do it, he'll keep that key there, he thinks he has his bases covered, he won't move it, he won't he won't--_

_Pleasedon't_

"Naruto?" Sasuke mumbled without opening his eyes. "You're awake?"

Naruto hummed, trying to force some grogginess into his voice like he himself had just woken up. "I couldn't sleep."

"Shut up," Sasuke muttered. "You've been sleeping fine."

"Fuck you, too," Naruto retorted. Now that Sasuke was awake, he felt justified in scooting backwards and out of the cold arms. But Sasuke held steadfast.

"Stay," Sasuke whispered. "Sleep for a little while longer."

Naruto blinked. "Why? You're up, aren't you? Get me some breakfast, I'm hungry."

A cool hand gripped his upper arm and pulled him back down, against Sasuke's side. Naruto placed a hand on his chest, ready to shove himself away, when Sasuke's words stopped him in his tracks. "If you agree to sleep for an hour or two more, I'll take you outside."

"Wha?" Naruto blurted before he could stop the less-than-articulate response from leaving his lips. He hadn't expected Sasuke to bargain with him. Threaten him, sure, gag him and bind his ankles down, expected, but a deal? It was like a parent begging their children to sleep in just a few more hours on Christmas morning.

_But isn't that why I'm here, anyway? Because of a deal? How many days do I have left here, anyway?_

Sasuke had begun to talk again. "It's--" he paused to peek over his shoulder, "not even eight. Sleep in until nine and then, after breakfast, we'll walk around outside."

Naruto frowned. This seemed to be about the time Sasuke usually woke up, so what was his problem--

_The cuffs._

The realization hit him with all the subtlety of an eighteen-wheeler.

_He can't take them off without me asleep. _

Trying to looking more pissed off than awed at the realization, Naruto muttered a derisive "fine". He made a show of shifting backwards on the bed, and surprisingly enough, Sasuke didn't stop him. He settled deeper into the bed, shut his eyes, and said, "I wanna make a snowman."

"Whatever you'd like," Sasuke said. "Just sleep."

Naruto found the request an easy one to follow. The way his nerves had spiked up, and how anticipation made his heart beat madly in his chest for a good hour, exhaustion was tugging him back into bed. It was dark outside, and his biological clock was telling him it was time for bed. He began to count in his head the days he'd been here--one, two--how many days it would be until he saw Sasuke again--thirty, twenty-nine--and before he knew it, he was fast asleep.

--

Naruto awoke to the blissful feeling of both of his arms curled up to his chest, wrists free from its metal restraints. When he cracked his eyes open, it was to see Sasuke sitting against the headboard. An oil lamp was burning on the bedside table providing extra light to illuminate the book on Sasuke's lap. Upon hearing Naruto shift, Sasuke gently folded over the corner of the page and closed the book, sliding it on the table before turning bright brown eyes down.

_They key, the key, he has the key_

Sasuke's impassive face turned to one of mild suspicion and Naruto' heart stuttered in his chest as he contemplated a mind reading power Sasuke had yet to divulge to him.

"What's wrong with you?" Sasuke asked, and Naruto realized too late why. Without his conscious consent, his eyes had drifted towards the vampire's pants where he now knew lay the key to handcuffs. His mind was instantly alert, snapped harshly out of post-sleep weariness, coming up with any kind of excuse, plausible or ridiculous, and his eyes scanned along Sasuke thigh, landed on the hands folded across his lap, and--

"I just realized something," Naruto lied quickly. "You wear your glove to bed."

Sasuke blinked, suspicion instantly flitting away from his eyes. "And?"

"It's just weird, is all," Naruto said, propping himself up on his arms. "You won't wear a shirt but you'll wear your glove. It looks stupid. Does it hurt if you don't cover it?"

"It minimizes the sensations, yes," Sasuke replied. Sighing, he slid from the bed. "Do you want breakfast?"

"I want pancakes."

Sasuke frowned at him, already sliding a navy colored dress shirt over his arms. "You're so moody this morning because you want pancakes?"

"I get grumpy when I'm hungry."

Sasuke snorted. "You're always grumpy lately." Not giving Naruto a chance to retort, he said, "Wait here." And Naruto had, wondering around the room curiously for several minutes, avoiding the fireplace and mantle, choosing instead to trace the wooden carvings in the mahogany bureau. He pulled open the top drawer, saw inside of it several pairs of neatly folded slacks and shirts, snorted, and moved on down. Three drawers later he found a pile of jeans and a separate pile of long-sleeved shirts, thankfully with no buttons. Taking advantage of Sasuke's current absence, he quickly shed his sleeping clothes and pulled on a pair of dark jeans and a flannel shirt, not unlike the one with bloody holes in it that Sasuke had thrown out earlier. He wasn't surprised to find that they fit like a glove.

Fifteen minutes later, Sasuke had returned, a tray with a plate of pancakes and bacon, a tall glass of orange juice, a jug of syrup, no butter. Naruto ate it without fuss, wondered

_what's going--_

how he got them to taste like this. They weren't like the ones Sasuke and he made at home. They were missing something

_something's miss--_

or had something added that made them taste so different.

And he wondered,

_wandered_

when the normalcy of it all would finally drive him to insanity.

**November 22, 2005**

"Take one step out of my line of sight and we're going straight back."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. C'mon, let's go!"

"Put this on."

"Christ, you pushy asshole…"

"It's night time, you fool. It's dark and it's cold. Put it on."

"I got it, I got it. No, I can put it on _myself_."

Naruto wrestled out of Sasuke's grip and slid his hands through the too-long sleeve of the leather coat Sasuke had leant him. The vampire was wearing a dark suede overcoat that fell to his ankles, while the one Naruto wore dipped to just above the back of his knees. Naruto grumbled about his companion's flamboyant sense in fashion as he folded back the cuffs, only to be handed a pair of gloves not unlike the pair Sasuke wore. "Is this a joke?"

"Just put them on and stop being a baby," Sasuke snapped, thrusting them into Naruto's chest. "You aren't like me yet. Your fingers will fall off."

"Don't be so dramatic," Naruto chided angrily, nevertheless stuffing his hands through the gloves. He blinked, then snapped, "And what do you mean by 'yet'!?"

"Are you ready yet?" Sasuke asked, redirecting Naruto's attention to the door. "Or is there something else you'd like to argue about?"

Naruto bit his lip. As much as he'd like to, pushing Sasuke's buttons wasn't really in his favor right now, not when freedom was around five seconds from being unlocked. The blond man nodded his head.

Sighing, Sasuke turned around. "Remember the conditions," Sasuke said. "Do not leave my sight. Do not run."

"I got it, I got it."

"If you do, you will not be coming back out."

"Just open the fucking _door_."

And Sasuke did. With his back turned to Naruto, the human couldn't see what he was doing. He heard the faint jingling of keys, then heavy bolts being turned. He waited with bated breath. Never before had he gone this long without fresh air, without being outside. Even when he was in the hospital when he was a kid, he'd kicked up enough of a fuss until a nurse helped to wheel him to the roof, even for fifteen minutes.

But more importantly, it had been too long since Naruto had seen the sunshine. And if his captor had his way, he'd never be able to see it again.

While Naruto waited for the door to open, Naruto tried to remember the last time he'd been out during daylight hours. It had been the day Sasuke--_bastard, s elfish bastard, what's so great about Japan anyway, just watch some anime if you want to reconnect yourself with your heritage_--had left for the airport. He'd been in the car, talking on the phone to Sasuke, before driving home. It had been cold that day, but if he sat still, let the light hit the skin, it was warm. So warm. And now, no matter how fierce the fire beneath the mantle, Naruto could not warm up. Some part of him, always, felt frozen to the bone.

The memory of that day shook loose a question from his mind that he'd forgotten to ask. "Hey?"

"Hm?" Sasuke muttered back distractedly. He seemed to be having trouble with one of the locks.

"That day--well, the night that you came, before that I got a phone call." Sasuke's hand stopped fumbling with the cold-swollen locks. _Oh fuck_. A bucket of ice dropped into Naruto's stomach. "Was that you?"

"Yes," Sasuke murmured. "That was me."

Naruto tasted vomit in the back of his throat, and his heart thudded so fast his breath quickened. Sasuke must have noticed, for his head snapped back, eyes light with faint concern.

"It was Sasuke's name on the Caller ID," Naruto choked out, eyes wide, fear rooting his feet to the floor. "Did you--"

_Did you kill him?_

The question went unasked, but it had been a heavy thought In Naruto's mind. He almost didn't want to know. More importantly, he felt he would he physically incapable of exacting revenge if his lover were murdered.

Because that would be what Naruto would have to do. No matter how much he preached against grudges, against vengeance, he'd have to make a hypocrite of himself. Some way, somehow, he'd have to rip this monster limb from limb.

"I didn't kill him, if that's what you're thinking," Sasuke said slowly. Even though his tone sounded hesitant, Naruto knew it was because he was once again choosing his words carefully, like he always did when Naruto caught him off-guard. "I was at the airport. He left his bag at the table while he went to order a coffee, and I took the phone then."

Naruto nodded shakily, swallowing back more questions he wasn't sure he wanted the answers to--_Why didn't you kill him? Don't you want him dead? Do you need him for something? Did you do it for me?_

Sasuke turned his heavy gaze back to the stubborn contraption that construction workers had put over the door. "I want him dead, do not have me mistaken," Sasuke said casually, the words sending unbidden chills racing up Naruto's spine. "But I knew that if I killed a person--especially him--I'd never garner your forgiveness." A heavy, rusty _thunk _came from the door. "And I'm not all too sure I'd deserve it." Sasuke pocketed whatever he'd used to unlock the door before turning back to face Naruto. "However much I hate the fact that he got to you before I did, he kept you happy. He insured your safety. And for that, he has my gratitude."

Naruto's eyes narrowed into a glower. Sasuke was making it sound like Sasuke'd been his babysitter, his keeper, like a substitute for the years it took for the vampire to find him. Rather than hurl insults back, Naruto kept his voice as calm and even, although distinctly more deadly, than Sasuke's had been. "I love him," he said simply. He wanted to say more, but no words could accurately portray the anger filling Naruto to the brim. 'I love him', the only simple truth Naruto had to hang onto.

Sasuke stared blankly at him, and Naruto wondered if Sasuke would just lock that door up and send Naruto back to his room, back to the bed he'd spent so many hours just lying on. But Sasuke surprised him. He smiled knowingly, the expression small but still there, and curled his hand around the door know, pulling it open. "Shall we?"

Naruto watched as he opened the door, and it was like running a damp cloth over the grimy face of a photo frame. The scenery Naruto had stared at so longingly during the night was given clarity. And even though he barely saw two feet of it between the door frame and the door, even though he saw a dungy alleyway, boarded windows, overflowing trashcans--Naruto couldn't make himself focus on the bad. He was a naturally optimistic person, and that trait had been oppressed so forcefully for so long that it came back full force now. All he saw was the quiet, black sky dotted with stars, the thick blanket of undisturbed white snow. The air smelled like ozone. A light breeze blew against his face, and as the force of it waned, Naruto found his body being pulled inevitably out the door like water spiraling down a drain.

He walked past Sasuke and onto the stoop, looking around for the first time. White, black, and gray. Barely any color except for him and the vampire who was closing the door behind him. White streets, black skies, gray buildings. And to Naruto it was gorgeous, looking to him very much like a picture on the front of a Hallmark card.

He padded down the steps, grinning at the sounds of the snow crunching beneath his boots. The smooth expanse of it had been deceiving. What looked like a foot was really just a few inches, but it was still enough to make Naruto grin. As much as he hated the cold, he loved the snow. He'd never be able to move South and lose this stuff.

Slowly, he began to walk down the street, not wanting to miss anything. The gentle _crunch crunch _coming from somewhere behind him told him that Sasuke was keeping to his word of keeping a close eye on him. He breathed in deeply, evenly. Despite the grimy look of the abandoned city in which they currently resided, the snow had frozen everything over, and he could detect even the faintest rank scent in the air. Only clean, beautiful, unblemished snow.

Naruto peeled off one of his gloves. Sasuke made a noise of protest behind him, but Naruto ignored it in favor of scraping off a handful of snow from a house stoop's railing. He gripped it tightly in-between his clench fingers, feeling the cold seep into his boned, enjoying the feeling. Despite how cold he'd felt these past few days, how his blood seemed to refuse to thaw out until after hours of his blood being drained, this was a different type of chill, one he could better relate to. He'd been in the snow, played in the snow, walked through the snow, hundreds of times before. This was one of the precious few things he'd encountered over the past week that tied him back to reality, back to _home_.

In order to keep his thoughts from veering back to Sasuke, probably nearly suicidal in worry and in anger and in confusion, away from the fact that Christmas was coming, away from home and light and the sun, Naruto refocused on several questions he'd been meaning to ask the vampire, but had never gotten the chance to ask.

"I've still got a few questions for you," Naruto said to the man stalking him from behind.

"Hm?"

"You said that I'm some… some sorta reincarnation of your dead boyfriend or whatever."

There was a heavy sigh, and Naruto watched his own breath cloud up before his face. "That's an odd way of putting it, but yes," Sasuke said.

"Well, if that's true, why is my Sasuke here?" Naruto asked, struggling to find a way to word his questions, and inwardly enjoying the sound of a slightly louder gush of footprints from behind him at the words 'my Sasuke'. "How could he be reincarnated if you're still alive."

"Hmm… how about this? For every question of yours, I get to ask one myself."

Naruto racked his brain for anything he wouldn't want the vampire to know. Not coming up with anything, he agreed. "Fine.

There was a short pause. "'Alive'," Sasuke repeated Naruto's word from earlier, like it was a word he hadn't heard up to this point and wasn't quite sure of its meaning. Sasuke stopped walking. When Naruto turned to look at him, he thought there was something off about the older man. It was obvious, he knew, and yet he couldn't quite put his finger on it. "That's a very loose word where I'm concerned. I move, I breathe, I think, I feel emotions…. But there's something in me, I feel, that's missing, something I had while I was human. And whatever that thing is, is what I think carries on to become reincarnated."

"What, like a soul?" Naruto asked, and it sounded foolish even to him.

"I don't know." That was when Naruto noticed what was so off. Sasuke was breathing, he could see it from here. The night was breezeless, yet the fringes of Sasuke's bangs, the rest of his hair swept into a short ponytail, wavered slightly at Sasuke's breath. Breath that created no fog, like Naruto's was doing. _He's cold to the core, _Naruto realized numbly. For some reason, this scared him more than the fangs, even though they'd punctured him several times too many. _What must that feel like? If he can feel pain, he must feel the cold… what must that be like?_

"What about my question?"

"Huh?" Naruto said, then shook his head. "Oh. What do you want to know?"

"I know that you've been going to college… but what for?"

"Photography. But I don't know… I've always been into the arts, but since the beginning of the semester I've been thinking of changing it."

"To?"

"Architecture. I like to create things, and I like unpredictability. I like that I can't design something perfectly because the materials needed will always change your plans. That, and I've always been able to move things around in my head. Like a puzzle, or something. I can turn it around without forgetting what the other sides look like."

While he was talking, Naruto began to walk slowly across the street, scuffing up snow with the toes of his boots to watch tiny clumps of snow skitter across the rest. He slid his glove back on and bent down to scoop up a handful of snow. Quickly he compressed it between his palms to form a tight ball, and then turned around. There was a cornucopia of graffiti dressing the building across from him, and he made a target out of a neon orange 'O'. Flinging the snowball, it landed dead center, making it look like a giant doughnut.

Sasuke was silent for a long time. He didn't look contemplative, Naruto thought, only smug. Again. As Naruto packed a second snowball, a dream came back to him, a photograph, of a single-roomed flat, scrubbed wooden floors, a work bench, a canvas of schematics--

The snowball dropped from his hand.

Sasuke chuckled darkly, coming to stand beside Naruto and scooping up his own handful of snow. His voice was light as he asked, "Do you have another question?" He scrunched up the snow into a ball, pitched it, and they watched it collide in the exact same spot as Naruto's.

Ignoring his own embarrassment, Naruto asked, "How old are you?"

"Physically, I'm in my early twenties. Twenty-three or twenty-four, I believe."

"I didn't mean physically, dickwad," Naruto snapped. He threw another snowball, and was dismayed to find that it was slightly off-center then the previous throw.

As Sasuke formed his second snowball, he spoke. "I was born in the land known to you as Japan. I can't recall the exact year that I was born, but it was in the early 1600's."

_What?_

Sasuke threw his snowball and instead of landing in the center, it hit where Naruto's second shot had landed. "I believe that you call it the Edo period?" The way he was spouting this information so carelessly floored Naruto completely. No longer was he able to layer the vampire's words with a careless blanket of indifference. The existence of the paranormal was finally catching up to him, and Sasuke's words rang with such a truth that Naruto was left with no choice but to believe him.

Naruto had no response to that. Shakily, he formed another snowball and threw it. His aim was weak from shock, and it landed far from the target.

"My turn," Sasuke stated. He eyed the handful of snow he'd just scooped into his palm as he asked, "Do you hate me?"

Again, Naruto was stunned. Here the blond was asking such invasive questions, and Sasuke was asking simple, blank ones with enough of an underlying meaning to make Naruto feel extremely uncomfortable.

It was a good question, Naruto thought. Thus far, Naruto hated nearly everything the vampire had done. Kidnapped him, drank his blood without consent, nearly _raped _him on several occasions, and yet--

_They look the same._

Naruto's heart had a bad case of tunnel vision. He loved someone, and he loved him with every fiber of his being, so much that it was dangerous. He was blind to everything else. And it ached, not even being able to hear his voice, see his face, and before him was an exact replica of that man. They were so similar. Their looks, their voice, their way of talking, their attitudes--

Naruto discovered the answer himself at the exact moments the words came from his mouth. "No. I don't hate you."

This time it was Sasuke who took the brunt of the shock. He stared at the unthrown snowball in his hand, twirling it in his fingers. Naruto knew there was no warmth in Sasuke's hand to melt it.

"You look surprised," Naruto noted.

Slowly, Sasuke said, "I know that you don't hate me. You can't." His eyes drifted from his hand to Naruto's eyes. "It's because I look like him, isn't it?"

Naruto nodded stiffly, shoving his hands into his pocket to hide the way they shook. An unexplainable wave of guilt bubbled and frothed in his stomach.

"I wasn't surprised that you don't hate me," Sasuke explained. "Just that you were willing to admit it." Sasuke broke their gazes, turned on his heel slightly, and threw the snowball. For the third time, it landed squarely over Naruto's, far from the center of the 'O'.

Naruto swallowed. "You were supposed to aim for the center of the 'O'," he said thickly, trying to force scorn into his voice. It sounded weak and meager too the version he'd created in his head.

Sasuke looked at him, and Naruto wished he hadn't. Instead of the gaze repelling him, it seemed to be drawing him closer, like an invisible fishing wire. "That's because I wasn't aiming for the target."

The silence that stretched after that wasn't awkward. It buzzed heavily with excitement, with innuendo, with a deep double-meaning Naruto wasn't ready to poke at with a twelve-foot pole.

Naruto cleared his throat, thought, _He's four-hundred years old, I want to go home, what must if eel like to be that cold, _but said none of those things. "I'm ready to go back."

Sasuke nodded, not asking for an explanation. He waited for Naruto to walk by him before following, both of their footstep quiet as they retraced the grooves in the snow back to the abandoned house.

--

The fire was still crackling when Naruto woke up at ten 'o' clock in the morning.

Naruto didn't know what woke him up. When he lay down next to Sasuke on the bed a few hours ago, exhausted to the point where it hurt to talk, he was sure that he'd sleep straight through the day. But he was wrong. Like a bolt of lightning had struck him, Naruto woke up with a start.

Sasuke hadn't entwined their bodies yet. Based off his experiences with his lover, Naruto figured Sasuke wouldn't cuddle up to him for a few hours yet, once he'd sunk deep enough into sleep. Their arms were close together between their bodies, the handcuffs that had terrified Naruto so badly before now seeming even more frightening, like they'd snap at him if he even attempted to remove them.

Only a few hours ago, Sasuke had asked Naruto if he hated him.

Using more stealth than he ever thought possible for him, Naruto slowly sat up, not moving his bound arm so much as a centimeter.

And Naruto had replied in the negative.

Slowly, he sat up in an awkward way, reached around, and barely brushed the tips of his fingers along the seat of Sasuke's pants, feeling for the seam of the pockets.

But that did not mean Naruto loved him.

It was there. Colder than Sasuke's skin, colder than the snow he'd waded through the day before, the head of the key.

Naruto's heart had tunnel vision.

He pried it out slowly, so slowly. Naruto counted the seconds by, and he reached one-hundred and ninety before they key came free. Another fifty as he slowly, slowly drew his arms back to him, and a full five minutes as Naruto slowly slid the head of the tiny key into the hole on his side of the handcuffs. Slowly, oh so slowly. The clink it made was deafening, then the inevitable cranking as Naruto loosed the cuff until it came free.

Like he'd just found himself capable of walking on water, Naruto drew his hand back and looked at it in wonder.

_Home._

There were tears rolling slowly down his face, but for once Naruto didn't mind them. He barely even noticed them.

His heart rocketed to the door, but his body was slow with caution, with surprise, with anxiety. Carefully not to lift his weight from the bed, he shifted towards the end of the mattress. Swung his feet to the floor. Sasuke was facing him. Put the keys on the mattress. Don't wake up. Don't wake up. Don't wake up. Please. _Please_.

Then he was standing. Away from the immobile vampire. On his own two feet. The floor creaked, so he was careful across the floor. But by the time he reached the doorway, it was like everything in his mind exploded. His stomach soared. He couldn't tell if he wanted to laugh or to cry.

And Sasuke slept soundly, breath making not a sound, as Naruto fled down the stairs.


	10. The Boogeyman

**Important Author's Note: **I don't think many have noticed, but check the dates between Naruto's and human-Sasuke's different POV's. So far, Sasuke's story is days ahead of Naruto's.

Again, sorry for the delay. I've been getting a bit bored with the story line, but now that it's picking up, hopefully I'll write faster.

_**-Kodak**_

"Head down, go to sleep to the rhythm of the war drums."

-Pet, by _A Perfect Circle_

**November 22, 2005**

While Naruto's brain was telling him that it hadn't been that long since he'd last seen sunlight, his heart soaked up the outside air like a dry and brittle sponge. The sky was still dyed a dark hue from the night, but the promise of light was almost too much to bare.

Naruto began to run.

He veered to the right, following the footprints he'd made with Sasuke the night before. It had seemed so long ago. Outside, alone save for the sound his boots made as they crunched through the snow, it felt like the vampire didn't exist at all. Supernatural things were back in the books and movies to which they belonged, and Naruto had woken up from a long, deep sleep. A coma. And now he was running like the last remaining human in the midst of a zombie apocalypse he'd seen so often in theaters. Alone. In the quiet. Danger unknown but ever present, nonexistent until he saw it with his own eyes.

He kept on running.

It wasn't long before he panted for air, and the oxygen deprivation brought a sudden clarity to his mulled thoughts. He'd darted out the door without a single sense of direction, only following meaningless footprints. He skidded to a halt and did a three-sixty, as if doing so would allow him to garner a better understanding of this abandoned city's layout. It did no such thing. Only made him dizzier than anxiety was already making him.

Nearly crying with the frustration of it, of being outside and free and so far from his goal, Naruto kept on running in the same direction. He passed the graffiti-covered wall, ignored the chunks of ice clinging to the brick where they'd landed their targets, and darted past where their own footsteps ended. Sasuke had been asleep when he left, sure, but his Sasuke was restless at night. Maybe this one was, too. Able to wake at the slightest noise, if got too hot or too cold, or noticed a certain missing something--

Naruto shook his head, refusing to think. The fact of the matter was that Naruto had willingly thrown himself between a rock and a hard place. He had to find a way out of this labyrinth of a town or go back to a fate that would surely end up with him in a state worse than death. Sure Sasuke had said it took him an hour to reach town, but that meant nothing to Naruto. Who knew how fast vampires could run? Maybe he jumped roof to roof like a real-life spider man. Maybe he transformed into a bat. Miraculously enough, Naruto was wishing himself back in that wreck of a house, at least long enough to come up with a more formidable plan.

"_There can't be any other plan," _Naruto hissed to himself. "This is it."

He kept on running, the snow clear save for tiny paw prints, until he stopped so suddenly he literally tumbled to the ground. His head spun even faster, and through disoriented vision, Naruto saw another set of footprints coming from the opposite direction. His mouth gaped open, some snow slipping into his mouth, and he drank it gratefully. The sudden change of emotions, from frenzy to panic to relief, made the taste and temperature of snow welcome to his burning body.

The man at the other end of the footsteps wasn't Sasuke.

"Hey!" The man didn't turn to him. "Hey, you! Help me!"

The stranger didn't so much as shift a muscle. He was carefully surveying a map he held open with one hand, the other hidden in his coat pocket. When Naruto drew closer, he saw that the lower half of the man's face was hidden by the forest green scarf he wore, a heavy woolen hat hanging low over one side of his face. Thin wisps of hair hung damply over his one visible eye.

"Hm?" he asked when Naruto drew up to a stop before him, both hands clasping his knees as he gaped for breath. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah! Do you live here!?" Naruto breathed out, praying that the man had a cell phone on him. He remembered his own, and vaguely wondered which house it was at. The idea of seeing such technology was astounding to him, and wonderfully familiar. Even if this man had a dead one, the mere sight of it, proof of such an existence would--

"Not really. I live here and there."

Naruto blinked. He was homeless? Just to be sure, "Do you have a cell phone?"

"I don't."

All of a sudden, the supernatural reality closed back in on him. Technology took its place as a fantasy, and the danger became more real. Growing frustrated, Naruto asked, "Do you know anyone who lives in this area?" They said homeless knew the land more than the average citizen, didn't they?

"Obviously not. It's abandoned. Can't you see that no one's here?"

"I'm here!" Naruto snapped. "You're here! We got here from somewhere! So you must know where this place is!"

The man scratched at his cheek. "With that logic, you must also know where we are."

"I--I--for fuck's sake," fear was making him incoherent, so he decided a sharp slap of truth as just what he needed to get this man to stop joking. "I was kidnapped you son-of-a-bitch! I was drugged and blind-folded and fucking dragged here! How the Hell would I know where we are!?"

To his great shock, not even this caused the strange man to waver. "Kidnapped?" he repeated as if Naruto had just relayed to him today's weather. "You ought to report such a thing to the police."

Naruto was going to punch him.

After sputtering incoherently for a few moments before his eyes fell back on the map. This man might be a nutcase, but a map was a map. "Hey, could I see that for a second?" He pointed a finger at it.

The stranger gave him a bland look from his one visible eye before handing it over. Naruto snatched it from him, impatience making him forget that he should really keep up with his manners to the only person he knew was in the area besides--

"Hey, this is a map of the entire state!" Naruto cried. His nerves were mounting. He didn't have time to fuck around with this-- "Can you tell me where we are on here?"

"Oh my, you can't read a map? What kind of kidnapper would want such a stupid boy?"

The urge to hit him was becoming near impossible to resist, but Naruto hung on to the one thought--_homehomehome_--and it allowed him to bite his tongue. With the taste of copper in his mouth, Naruto grit out, "I am trying to get home," he hissed. "I live near Bucks. Bucks County." The strange man showed no recognition, and made no move to retrieve the map that was slowly becoming ruined in Naruto's grip. "I need to get to the police. I need to get home. Can you please--_please_--just tell me where the nearest city is."

It wasn't a question, it was a demand; but the older man took plenty of time turning over his answer in his head. Naruto's feet itched to run. His heart felt like a ticking time bomb. Besides the taste of copper, the vile taste of vomit was his constant companion. Nearly sick with nerves, he had to swallow several times to keep himself from retching. Oddly enough, his eyes were clear of tears. It seemed there really was a level of stress where tears became inadequate.

"I don't know this city well," the man finally said listlessly, unapologetically, and Naruto wanted to spit at the ground in front of his feet. He remembered a workshop, a washed out backdrop of cinder and construction, and that stopped him. "Street names mean nothing to me. You'd have to find a point high enough in the city to look out and try to find it. I know there's a town border not far from here. Five miles, maybe."

_Five miles, _Naruto thought dizzily. _That's not too bad, is it? I ran that in high school all the time. Not through the snow, but fear produces--what is it, what is that shit, but I can make it. I can._

"Thanks," Naruto breathed. Relief made him giddy and he asked, as an afterthought, "Hey, what's your name again?" even though the man had never mentioned it.

But he was already straightening up and walking away, to Naruto's astonishment. "Hey, don't you want your map back?" There was no bag slung over his back. His clothes looked in good condition, and Naruto could only guess at the quality of the leather his jacket was made of, now that he looked at it. Did he steal it? How could a homeless person afford such luxuries?

"You shouldn't worry about such things," the stranger said as he walked back the way Naruto had come from. "No time to dawdle. Sasuke might catch up to you."

By the time Naruto had gotten over the shock, the mysterious man had disappeared into an alleyway, and he was alone once more.

--

Sasuke woke up in an old barn far from his village, the snow drifting through the rafters slowly, steadily, piling up as high as the bails of straw. The hay he lay on smelled like dust and mold. There was no one with him, only pain, a pain so deep it froze him to the bone. He was told later, by a man who traveled with him for quite some time, that when a vampire first woke up, it was to the insatiable thirst. The need for something his own body could no longer produce. The addiction to blood that would satisfy the dead blood cells in his frozen veins.

But it was different for Sasuke. He was miserable, but not because of the thirst. Despite the wretched depression, he was also happy, bitterly so, and proud, in a ironic way. He'd sacrificed himself for someone he loved. Someone he wouldn't remember the name of for years to come, whose face he would see vague outlines of for centuries, whose skin wouldn't touch his for a long, long time.

And that was all Sasuke remembered. A sacrifice. And then he was gone.

Sasuke woke up from his memory slowly, eyes fluttering but remaining shut, breathing in the deep smell of reality and fire. The dream visited him every now and then, when he was restless and plagued with thoughts of the loneliness that dovetailed immortality. It was like a needle to a diabetic. Painful at first, like it would be to everyone, until years and years of suffering through it brought immunity. Now it was as routine as feeding.

Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed over closed eyes. Cold. He was colder than usual. How had Naruto gotten so far away from him? Sasuke pulled his arm, expecting a semi-heavy weight to resist. Wanting the warmth of a human body, not just a fire. Instead, he only heard the empty handcuff slide across the mattress.

Sasuke's eyes opened, and widened nearly simultaneously.

Naruto was gone.

--

Naruto didn't waste anytime. Didn't, in fact, even ponder over the man's words. He had far too much in his head to worry about that, too. And in the matter of a minute, Naruto had half-managed to convince himself he'd made the whole thing up.

The first thing he did was another full-circle, but this time with a solid purpose. His eyes scanned the sky until they brushed upon the highest point. A deep dark red building pierced the sky several blocks back along the road he'd been traveling. It towered over the surrounding buildings, and Naruto could only assume that it was as apartment building or an office space. Either way, where there was a building, there was a roof.

Like on the outside of Sasuke's house, there was a lock on the door, Naruto noticed as he drew up to it. There was an old rusted sign, but he couldn't read it. Several strips of blue painters tape formed peeling lines around the doors, and ice-filled trashcans stood at either side of the stoop. No footsteps led to it. Not even the homeless could get in.

Naruto didn't waste any time with the heavy contraption that was the lock. He tore off his gloves on his way back down the stairs of the porch and stuffed them into his pockets before picking at the wire frame on one window. After a long few moments and a few pained grimaces as the frozen, rusted metal bit into the soft tips of his fingers, Naruto managed to wriggle his hand far enough above the sill to grab a good hold on the frame. With two large heaves, a little wriggle to the left after he'd heard the top right corner snap sharply, Naruto managed to lift the frame from the window. Crouching down, he uprooted from beneath the snow a solid block of cinder left over from construction. Swinging it over the shoulder, he let is slam into the glass. The fist hit cause a network of spider web-like cracks to spread like ripples over a pond. The second hit brought the whole thing down, the wooden frame splintering like tooth picks under his rushed rage.

Jagged pieces of glass stuck up like fangs, but Naruto ignored them. One hand pressing into each side of the brick frame, Naruto pushed, allowing the strength of his arms to support the rest of his weight as he swung his legs up, hoisting himself through the window.

The only difference between the inside and the outside was the smell. Outside, it smelled pleasantly of ozone. The inside smelled like nothing at all. The cold and the age of the building had eliminated even the foulest of orders that came with an abandoned apartment building. But Naruto could still see his breath cloud before him, and the scant light leaking through the musky window matched that of the outside.

Refusing to linger, Naruto quickly made his way through what he assumed to be the lobby. The area was barren except for an old step ladder and a few stray buckets of paint. There was a stack of Yellow Pages in the corner, and several notices on dull-colored flyers stuck to the door Naruto hadn't wasted his time attempting to open. There was a desk, and beyond it four doors to elevators. Not even bothering to try, Naruto breezed by them to the Fire Route sign, beneath which was an old iron door. Pressing the bar, the steel cold as ice, Naruto stepped through.

And into complete darkness.

For a moment, Naruto stood still in shock. His one hand had been heading to his pockets to withdraw his gloves, but it became paralyzed to his side the moment the slice of light from the open door disappeared, a heavy thus echoing throughout the stairway. Or what Naruto assumed to be the stairway.

Without his mind fully processing what was processing, Naruto stumbled forward, hands groping before him blindly. Fear made him dizzy, and when his foot scuffed the front of the step lightly, his knees buckled and he collapsed onto the staircase. Curling his legs up, he pressed his forehead tightly against his arms that he'd curled around his shins, and thought that he hated the dark, that the stairs might not be sturdy, that there were plenty of other tall buildings but they were God knows how far away, and that Sasuke might very well be sitting up there, waiting for him.

Then, he thought about the other Sasuke. Sitting at home, on their sofa, or out in the cold with the police, looking for him. He had to know he was missing by now. No one besides Naruto would know how to offer him the help that he needed. No one else would know that Sasuke didn't desire comfort, only desired constant agendas, constant strategies, search the city, to search he state, no one would know.

Naruto would get back to him. But first he had to get up the stairs. Just stairs. He stumbled up them drunk. Stumbled up them in the dark. Stumbled up them in the dark while drunk. He could do it again.

Not giving himself a moment more to fret because he was positive, absolutely positive, he'd change his mind, waste time trying to find another building, Naruto stood and turned to face, presumably, the staircase. His hand reached out to the railing, and feeling it was how he'd imagined a human bone would feel. Cool, stiff, brittle, and covered in something disgusting, some unknown film. He snapped his hand back, deciding that if he were going up this thing blindly, he'd might as well do it right. Balling his hands into tight fists at his side, Naruto began the long ascent.

From the muffled sound of his footsteps and the heavy creaks, Naruto could tell that the carpet beneath his feet was threadbare at best, the wood old and molded through. He counted to fourteen, then stumbled forward when he came to a landing. Swallowing thickly, he once again groped the air, feeling for a wall. He found one, along with a thick blanket of cobwebs. Something underneath his foot gave a sick crunch. Maneuvering to the left, Naruto met a wall. Moving down that, his hip bumped into what was presumably the railing. Retracing his steps, Naruto found the wall opposite and soon after, the first step of the next set. Bracing his nerves, Naruto set forward.

His confidence rose and plummeted like the waves of an ocean. The further he went up, the fast he went. Several times on every flight of stairs there was a crunch. Several times on every flight of stairs he heard something move that wasn't him. More than once Naruto had to stop moving and swat at thin nets of spider web that had coated his face, and he knew, just knew, that the black of his coat would be gray with web by the time he got outside and into the sun.

Something big moved upstairs. Naruto kept moving, refusing to listen too hard. Soon he was on flight five, but he remembered far more than five rows of windows stacking up this building. More like twenty. He continued to climb.

On his twenty-sixth flight of stairs, Naruto screamed. Something had gotten a grip on is legs, sharp teeth biting through the cloth of his pant. He slid backwards, the fall that would crack his neck nearly immanent, until he realized that the creature who'd bitten into his legs was a broken-in stair. The wood had given clear way under Naruto's foot. Cursing under his breath for not even noticing the sudden shift in vertigo, Naruto shuffled forward, leaning onto the second step above the broken one, twisting his leg this way and then that way to free it. His heart beats could no longer keep up with the monstrous rushing of blood in his ears, and the way his body pulsed made him afraid he'd begin bleeding from every orifice of his body, and bleed out before he reached outdoors. Cursing himself, cursing Japan, cursing goddamn cell phones and door locks, Naruto crawled up the rest of the flight. Once he was sure he'd regained complete feeling in both legs, he made the rest of the way on foot.

When Naruto felt along the wall on both sides at the top of one set of steps, he realized he'd come to a stop on the twenty-second story. There was a door at the center of the adjacent wall, but he hadn't bothered with it, thinking it was the entrance to another floor of apartments. Now, the particular cold of that handle was given new meaning. Gritting his teeth, Naruto pushed at it. It didn't give. Smirking, half sane, Naruto wondered how anyone who'd come up _this damn high_--he shuffled back, and launched himself, shoulder-first, at the double-doors.

Cold, cold, beautiful _air_.

For this, Naruto did take his time. He hadn't realized just how much the dark had affected him until he'd gotten outside. The roof was covered in a thick blanket of undisturbed snow, layer upon layer of ice from past snow drifts crunching beneath Naruto's feet as he made his way forward. There were very few building tops he could see from his point-of-view, and then more of them as he got closer to the ledge. This building, he knew, was a good choice. Never mind the fact that jumping off of the complex seemed a much more desirable way of going down then descending those treacherous stairs.

Naruto expected to have to squint into the distance in order to see even the faintest glimmer of a populated city, but to his surprise, he spotted it almost immediately. The vampire hadn't been kidding when he'd said it only took him an hour to get into town. It was morning still, but had it been night, Naruto was sure he'd be able to literally hear the horns and the sirens from this spot.

Hands gripping the cement ledge, Naruto looked down and saw the road he'd been walking on. He'd been going the wrong direction. He should have gone the other way upon leaving Sasuke's house, not--

A jolt of fear raced up Naruto spine as he realized what he'd have to pass in order to reach the city.

Shaking his head once, Naruto squinted at the confusing gridline of roads that made up the world beneath him. The road he'd been traveling wasn't completely straight. It arched, like a pointing finger, in order to merge into a thicker line that made up what looked like a six-lane road. At every few blocks, a road leaked into that main street, including--_yes, yes_--the road right behind the apartment building.

"I'll double back," Naruto muttered. Go back to the main road. Walk along that, and keep going, going until he reached town.

Smiling, truly grinning for what felt like forever, he looked down at himself, and laughed. That, too, felt wonderful, coming from deep inside him and bubbling away all the angst he'd been riddled in for days. He was covered, head to toe, in cobwebs. He'd only been semi-conscious of the fact that after the first few floors, he'd stopped brushing his entire self of whenever he felt cobwebs brushing his nose, and had taken to merely swiping at his face. Now, looking down, he was covered in thick strands of it like a spider had been working on weaving him in the same web for years. He brushed at the stuff, then wiped his palms along the back of his pants when the web stuck to his hands. Grimacing, but his eyes still light, Naruto looked up into the sky, enjoying it to its full extent, the freedom he'd been fighting tooth and nail for.

And as Naruto took a few minutes to look at it, he realized something strange. His eternal clock told him it must have been nearing noon, yet many lights remained on, the city a bright beacon in the rest of the darkness--

Darkness.

_It's dark._

While looking up, Naruto felt his insides tumble over the ledge and plummet to the ground. The sky was as cold, dark, and unforgiving as iron.

There was no sun.

--

When Naruto finally exited the building, he half-expected to see Sasuke sitting there on the doorstep, with handcuffs and the promise of a cold bed in front of a blazing fire, that it was time to sleep until the sun stayed down for good.

_I broke my promise, _the reality hit him sharply, _I broke out deal_, that this risk wasn't worth it, _I can't go back._

From his birds-eye-view a few long minutes ago, Naruto knew that he had to go back. Right behind him was a city block. He turned left from the door, a left down the street. It was narrow, designed to only go one way, and kept going. Passing the one way signs, the trash, stray animals huddled together in the cold. The sky was darker than the alleyway entrances. Tears stung at his eyes, and he was continuously gulping, lungs burning deeply in his chest.

_I broke our deal._

"Thirty days my ass," Naruto bit out, then repeated it as if to strengthen his resolve. "Thirty days my ass."

_He never would have let me go anyway. He would have broken our deal, just like I'm doing now. It's not my fault. It's not my fault._

Somehow, this didn't make him feel better.

Naruto knew that he'd reached the main street by the sheer width of it. It more than tripled the size of the road he'd just run from. He stuck to the side of it, practically plastering himself to the wall. When Naruto noticed the set of fresh footprints in the snow, the set that branched out and weaved long before his, his ankles gave way and with a sharp cry, he toppled head-first into the snow.

The gloves fell from his pocket, and Naruto felt flush, hot and sticky. Struggling for a minute, his frozen fingers clasped at the buttons of his coat. Giving up shortly after, he wrenched at the seams. The plastic circles skittered across the smooth icy surface, leaving not a trace behind, as Naruto shrugged off the coat and threw it far away from him. The cold air collapsed around him like a deflating airbag, and he realized, belatedly, that the footsteps surrounding him belonged to more than one person. Some were bigger. Some were smaller. Some went the direction in which he was heading, others traveled down a side street Naruto instinctively knew the end of.

_It only proves that I'm going the right way, _Naruto thought gravely. _Man the fuck up, stand, and _move.

So he did.

He left the gloves and coat behind in his flight, and his body felt wonderfully unburdened. His arms moved faster by his sides, and just that gave him the impression he was running twice as fast as before. His footsteps cleared the surface of the snow better, and even though his boots were soaked through, all of his toes long-since numb, his bare arms victim to the cold and biting winds, Naruto felt his body catch fire. Five miles, the stranger had said. Naruto must have run two of them by now. He had to. That was practically half-way there.

_Wait, five miles to the city, or five miles to the border of this one? That would still leave a lot of ground to cover._

Snow began to dust over his body. Lazy flakes, slow and sure as poison, drifted down. For a long moment, Naruto didn't notice. But when got caught in his eyelash, he looked up, and groaned. One end of the sky was even darker than it had been when he'd surveyed it from atop the roof. It was that end of the sky he was running towards, and muggy gray closed down upon him like ash.

His lungs felt like they were folding in upon themselves in his chest, squeezing at his blood for every last bit of oxygen. Building after building, Naruto couldn't stop breathing, couldn't stop thinking, _did I go the wrong way_? And, _Maybe I should climb another building. Just in case._

Breathing, huffing, gasping

_"Now, love, breathe deeply for me."_

_He drugged me, _Naruto reminded himself as his arms pumped at his sides. _He had no right--no intention--no--he'd never let go._

_"Thirty days," _of borrowed time.

_"Thirty days for what?"_

_"For me to remember whatever you want me to. If I remember by the end of a month, then you can… 'change' me."_

_"And if you don't?"_

_"Then you let me go home."_

"I want to go home." By some miracle, Naruto managed to make his voice sound strong and assertive, not pleading and pathetic like he felt. "I want to go home." It wasted more oxygen speaking, but without conviction, it was all yet another wasted effort. "I want to go home."

Sasuke had whispered, not all that long ago, "I'll be back soon," and Naruto now realized that that wasn't Sasuke's promise to make. It was his.

"I'm coming," Naruto hissed. "I'm coming home."

He ran faster.

Naruto soon lost count of the number of blocks he ran past. This city was eerily similar to his own home town. The buildings were of the same height. The apartments roughly the same shape. The streets merging into this one in a very similar fashion. But there was no one here. No one he wanted to run into, anyway.

_This sucks, _Naruto thought, amusing himself with such a juvenile thought. So amused he said it out loud. He was giddy, on a monumental high of fear and hope. It didn't matter how many movies were based on or books were written about the two emotions. They didn't mingle well.

Abruptly, the buildings ended, and only the road remained. On either side of it were huge piles of foreign objects Naruto couldn't identify; they were completely coated in snow. Another minute of running brought him to a row of abandoned toll booths. When he went through one, he saw stickers plastered across the walls for things he didn't even recognize. They were all either in tatters or half-way there, the ends curling up and yellowing. The plastic windows were black with age, and Naruto couldn't even see through them.

And ahead of that was emptiness, Naruto found once he'd hopped over the black and yellow guard. Just a blank, dark canvas of a sky and a field of white. For a heart-breaking second, Naruto was sure that the world ended just beyond the city. It made just as much sense as the existence of vampires, after all. But then, he saw the tops of buildings scraping along the sky, weary lights winking at him and glinting like likes of a great many teeth.

There was a border of trees outlining the city,. Naruto cleared the security of the looming dark and buildings, his run slowing to a steady walk. His lungs were aching badly enough to make his body shake. Just walking took more energy than he felt he had. The footsteps in the snow had nearly dissipated now except for a few. As if caught in a trance, Naruto counted and found that there were five sets of footprints, all roughly the same size from what he could see. Two of them led back in the direction he had come from. Three more trailed towards the city.

The third had no returning trail.

_He's here._

Like it had been hardwired into his brain, a tracking device implanted somewhere in his body, Naruto could sense Sasuke's presence before he even saw him.

Naruto's heart rate picked up, as it had half an hour ago when he'd last seen a presence other than himself. The only difference was that this time, it didn't slow back down.

Sasuke stared up at him, utterly motionless. A single speck of darkness in an otherwise completely white world. Skin as pale as a ghost. Hair as dark as a raven. Naruto couldn't make out details, but his memory filled in the blanks. He didn't bother to wonder where he had wasted so much time. Didn't stop to think much at all. He wondered how long it had taken him to climb the apartment building. How long it took Sasuke to reach where he was. Why Sasuke didn't just follow Naruto's footprints and stop him earlier. Wondered how anyone could be so sadistic, so evil as to--

Naruto refused to play the part of the deer-caught-in-the-headlights. When he walked forward, down the snowy landscape, it was more of a stubborn action than a courageous act.

Still, Sasuke didn't move.

_He can't scare me_, Naruto thought. _Like a bee and a person. They're more afraid of us then we are of them. There's definitely more humans than there are vampires. There's got to be. He's more scared of them, of me, than I am of him._

With this in his head, Naruto went to meet Sasuke in the middle of a long snow-filled embankment that separated the dead city and the live one in front of him. So close to him. He could hear it now. The distant sound of sirens, and he wondered, wistfully, if they'd be able to hear him if he screamed.

Not even his stubbornness could keep Naruto moving once he caught a proper look of the expression upon Sasuke's face. The bee and human analogy be damned; Sasuke could have taken up the whole universe. Naruto felt small, so insignificantly small. Tiny in this white world, where he was supposed to be the leading species. Where he belonged and this vampire could go inhabit a different reality for all he cared.

There was ten feet of difference between them. Sasuke stared, and Naruto stared back. Naruto tried to remember if this man, this monster, had ever loved him, and began counting in his head the times he'd told his boyfriend that he loved him. He got up to twenty before he stopped and realized it wasn't enough, and that clearly he needed to get back and say it some more. Sasuke was the first to speak, his voice as quiet as the falling snow.

"You broke our deal," Sasuke hissed out slowly, each word sounding like it stood in its own sentence. Every syllable designed to unnerve him, but Naruto stood his ground. He comforted himself in the fact that things could get no worse than this, and that he'd said on numerous occasions he could do anything that he wanted. Anything that he dreamed. But when Sasuke made towards him, he realized that things could always get worse. It was watching a tsunami. No matter how fast he ran now, nothing could save him from getting swept away. The contradictions made him dizzy, and he hated himself for being as easily swayed as a leaf in the midst of a storm.

"There should never have been a deal in the first place." Sasuke was getting too close to completely blocking his way from the city, approaching straight on and greatening the angle Naruto would have to run at if he wanted to move past him. But Naruto had no choice but to let himself be cornered. Right now, he was in no position to run. Even as a human, Sasuke was far faster than him. Naruto didn't want to think how fast he'd be with a few hundred years of practice under his belt, if he didn't have to feel the burn of muscle, if he didn't even really need to _breathe_.

"You didn't play fair." The words were juvenile, but coming from Sasuke's lips made Naruto feel like he was being spoken down upon.

"You still think this is a game?"

"It's always been a game."

Sasuke was advancing on him now, and in order to buy some time, Naruto mirrored each of the vampire's steps forwards with a step back. Sasuke's weak point was his eyes, and that was such a tiny spot. Compared to him, every part of Naruto's body was a weak spot. He was a good fighter, but how could he fight someone who _just would not die_?

_There's supposed to be an answer! _Naruto thought frantically. Sasuke was looking at him with a cross between boredom and vague amusement, but Naruto knew better. If Naruto didn't come up with something now, he wouldn't be--

_ I don't want to be a monster!_

"Come on, Naruto," Sasuke murmured. "You're always so eager to fight. Why back away now?" He gestured behind himself at the visible town. "It's so close. Not even two miles away. It's what you want, isn't it? To go back to him."

_There's always an answer! _Desperate, Naruto carded through every memory pertaining to vampires. He was severely limited. _There's no sun. That's the only weak spot I know. And his eyes. The garlic thing is shit. Mirrors--mirrors--__**fuck.**_

_Eyes are stupid. Too superficial. There has to be something. Some weakness. For some its spiders, for some its big spaces, everyone has a phobia, kryptonite, something, __**something**__, he needs to have a weakness._

Naruto felt a branch crack under his feet. He was getting closer to the line of trees, back to that desolate city. He was backing up too far, but he couldn't bring himself to stop now that he started. Sasuke looked ready to walk like this all the way back if he had to.

Then.

_"But there's something in me, I feel, that's missing, something I had while I was human."_

That's it.

_That's it._

_But what if he missing? What the __**fuck **__could he be missing._

When the first tree lined up in his range of vision, Naruto shuffled through his options. Right now, bluffing seemed like his best option.

"Remember when you told me you were missing something?"

Sasuke hummed, barely seeming to recognize Naruto's words. "I am missing something," he admitted off-handedly. "And I fully intend to get it back."

_He's not just mad, _Naruto realized. _He's… I don't know what he is, but--_ It was dangerous. It wasn't just his conscious thoughts reacting to it. His human instincts were alive and jumping, causing his whole body to shake with the urge to run as if a starved lion stood before him, not a near-perfect model of his lover.

Naruto had never given much thought to the phrase, "If I can't have you, no one can." But now, he felt positive that if given no other option, Sasuke wouldn't hesitate in ripping out his throat.

"I know what it is that you're missing," and even though the words sounded cliché even in his head, he finished, "I know how to defeat you." He didn't even have to worry about sounding like a complete idiot. The quiet, murderous look ok Sasuke's handsome face never shifted.

"Oh?" he sneered. "Interesting.'

_Nothing works. _Naruto stopped walking, and interestingly enough, so did Sasuke. The vampire regarded him with patient look, like he was just humoring Naruto with all this before he finally lost all patience and went in for the kill. Which, really, he was.

_This sucks, _Naruto thought, and before he could regret it, he charged.

Right before his right fist made contact with Sasuke's collarbone, for his opponent had dodged at the last second--_he's playing with me, this is all a game to him, but it isn't to me_--Naruto caught a good look at the city. There was a building to the far right, a pale cream color. A series of shorter blocks surrounded it, indicating smaller buildings. They were far apart, stretches of empty space between them. It was familiar. Naruto recognized that layout.

His eyes bulged. His fist connected just as his brain made some quick connections. He remembered how, during car rides, he'd sometimes spy a distant city. Abandoned, Sasuke had once told him. Waiting for the district to come up with enough money for reconstruction. Something had happened there that had made it inhabitable. Too high crimes rates, the economy plummeting and the rent there soaring, completely gutting the city of nearly all its population.

Sasuke had swung him around, one hand on his shoulder, and Naruto was facing it full on. A hard arm closed around his neck, another hand grasping his air, restraining him. Naruto hardly noticed the pain.

_He barely moved me, _Naruto thought. _All this time… all this time…_

His city was staring him right in the face.

"You fucking BASTARD!"

Faint surprise registered momentarily on Sasuke's face as Naruto struck out blindly. He felt more than a couple hairs part violently from the scalp. The pain of it was nothing compared to the shame he felt. He was such an idiot. Such a God damned idiot.

All he could do was hurl insults and punches, some landing, most not. Those that did only caused Sasuke's body to jerk slightly, amusement now taking supremacy over every other feature on Sasuke's face.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Sasuke asked as he brought his forearm up, blocking another hit and causing Naruto's hand to fly by him. Taking advantage of that, he grasped Naruto under the arm and pushed straight down. Naruto's knees buckled and he was brought down, face-first, into the snow. His neck arched painfully as he struggled to breathe through the slush. Sasuke laughed breathily, bitterly. "What wrong?" he repeated mockingly. "I thought you wanted to see your old home again." Sasuke pressed his arm further into the snow and Naruto twisted his head to avoid suffocating. He coughed. He'd inhaled snow through his nose and water collected in his lungs. "Well? Aren't you going to try getting to it?" Harder. His arm was going to snap. "Go on. Try."

Naruto did.

His arm nearly dislocated from his shoulder, but Naruto managed to twist hard and fast enough, one bare hand pressed into the frozen ground as leverage. His feet scrambled like fish out of water for a moment before finding their footing implanted upon Sasuke's calves. Killing two birds with one stone, Naruto got to his knees just as Sasuke fell to his. The vampire lunged at him, but Naruto was too fast, scrambling back and pushing up, stumbling to his feet. He started to run, highly doubting that he could take Sasuke down. He was confident in his ability to fight, but not confident enough that he could kill an immortal.

It didn't matter. A hand gripped him behind his elbow, and he was spun around to face Sasuke's furious gaze. His eyes burned like tiny flames, contradicting the rest of his frozen features. Naruto refused to be intimidated. He grabbed at Sasuke's fingers, knowing better than to throw a fruitless punch or kick. He pried at them, but like a steel trap, they only dug in harder.

_There has to be some weakness._

Naruto cracked.

When he was four, when the boogeyman still existed somewhere in his closet, the orphanage's patron told him they weren't real. The childish mind that told him that impossible things did exist, no matter how many times others told him that they didn't. The childish innocence that feared things that went bump in the night. Eventually, as one got older, that mindset faded into the background. But it never truly went away.

Now it shoved its way to front and center, and Naruto felt like he was three feet tall. He was so small, so worthless, and the monster had finally clawed his way from his closet. Sasuke's fangs gleamed in an evil smirk. His eyes, bright red, hair so dark, hands hooked into his arm, fingers like claws they were biting so deeply--

_No, no, no_

_Don'tlettheboogeymangetme_

"NO!" Naruto screamed. Scrambled back. Grew more insane, more hysteric, when he couldn't budge. He couldn't find it. The weakness. Behind him was home. It was so close, always so close, but the monsters in his closet were always closer. "NO! NO!" Don't drag me under too. "NO!" Don't make me disappear. Let me live. _Let me live. I need to get back to him alive._

There was a hand at his neck now, cold as ice, even to his numb skin. He pounded at Sasuke's arm, then twisted his face and bit into his wrist. The skin refused to give way under his canines, like it was rubber. It both disgusted and frightened him in equal measures.

"NO!"

Sasuke wasn't listening to him. "Game over." _That's as cliché as "I know how to defeat you", don't let him get me, Sasuke, please, Sasuke, you've always wanted to help me, I know you have you damned retard, so help me help me help me help me __**Sasuke. **_The world went black.

_--_

Naruto woke up in time to hear the door shut behind them. He heard wind whipping at the sides of the snow with thick lashes of snow, and cobwebs tickled underneath his numb nose. He sneezed, but Sasuke didn't bother to glance down. His eyes fluttered for a moment before opening, although there wasn't much to see. Sasuke hadn't bothered to turn on the lights, and the two were swathed in darkness. Sasuke paused at the door and shifted Naruto's weight to free up one hand, which he used to engage the look. Then he was making his way through the mudroom, across the living room, and into the kitchen

They were climbing the stairs and Naruto was still a far cry from fully awake. The thought of mercy didn't even bother crossing Naruto's mind. "Are you going to change me?" Naruto asked instead, slow to wake, even slower to realize the true weight of the situation.

Sasuke still didn't look at him, still climbing. "You're not even going to try and stop me?"

Naruto didn't raise to the bait, partially because he didn't want to play along with Sasuke's mind games. But mostly it was because Naruto didn't know how to get away anymore. He'd blundered through everything up to this point, but now… now--

"No," Sasuke finally said as they reached the landing, and it was then that Naruto noticed he was bundled up in Sasuke's leather coat. "Not yet."

Naruto was silent, then squinted as a sudden light went on. Sasuke didn't bother to close the door behind them. He sat Naruto down on the toilet, steadying him against the side of the sink before kneeling down to the ground by the tub and turning on the faucet. It took a full minute for steam to begin billowing into the air, and Sasuke put the stopper in place, allowing the tub to fill.

Sasuke turned back to him then, and began to remove Naruto's shoes. "You're frozen," he said by way of explanation. "A bath should help."

Naruto could barely feel his feet as they brushed against the tiles of the bathroom floor. The jacket was removed from around his shoulders and drooped upon the floor. When Sasuke began to unbutton his shirt, Naruto swallowed and asked, "Aren't you mad?"

Sasuke didn't pause in his undressing as he answered, "I was. But not anymore." The shirt was undone, and that too was pushed over his shoulders. "I've come to a realization that I've been going the wrong way about things. I've put the opinions of another above my own. Stand up."

He steadied Naruto with sure hands as the blond rose shakily to his feet. He didn't have the energy to feel embarrassed as Sasuke worked at the button and zipper of his pants. There was nothing sexual about it. Not yet, anyway.

Once Naruto's pants and boxers were pushed past his hips and down his legs, Sasuke aided him in stepping out of them and into the tub. Once he had Naruto settled, he toed out of his own boots and began to work at his clothes. In no time at all, Sasuke was as naked as he was, and Naruto regarded him with vague detachment. Another thing he had in common with his human Sasuke, Naruto thought before Sasuke stepped into the tub and squatted down. Naruto shifted to accommodate him, and the water lapped at the ceramic lips of the tub as he fit Naruto neatly between his legs.

A pale hand reached up for the bar of soap in the dish, and rubbed it between damp hands for a moment before replacing it. Then they were at his face, rubbing over his cheeks. Cold hands on an even colder face. Naruto shivered in relief as Sasuke dipped his hands back into the blissfully hot water and washed the suds from his face. When the bar of soap was rubbing at the skin above his heart, Naruto asked, "What now?"

"Now," Sasuke murmured, "I do things my way." Naruto didn't even bother to tense up. Sasuke was cleaning his neck now, and he could already feel the fangs, the teeth--

"Now," Sasuke repeated, "I'll talk." He put away the bar of soap, and dunked his hand to begin rinsing Naruto off. "And you are going to listen, love." Hot damp hands slid through his hair, and turned Naruto to face him. "Listen to me."

Naruto was quiet. He refused to think about how, for the very first time in his life, he'd gone against his word. Couldn't even bare to think about how he'd lost his only chance to get home, and he'd never get back to Sasuke. Or get that last kiss he should have gotten before he left. Feel warm hands, dark, gray eyes--

But Sasuke was talking. And talking. And for once, Naruto began to listen. Because it was the only thing keeping him from screaming.

"I met you in March," Sasuke began as he settled Naruto more comfortably against his chest, "of 1904."

--

**Author's Notes**: To make up for such a long delay, expect chapter eleven by this Friday.

Thank you for continuing to read!

_**-Kodak**_


	11. Sasukeh

"You could be my unintended. Choice to live my life extended. You could be the one I'll always love. You could be the one who listens to my deepest inquisitions. You could be the one I'll always love.

I'll be there as soon as I can, but I'm busy mending broken pieces of the life I had before."

Unintended, by _Muse_

**March 2, 1904**

It was upon the closing of the nineteenth century that he began to forget the reason for which he'd been fighting. Every day that passed, whether sunny or clouded, every night, every war, everything replaced the memories of a long time ago. His own body, so new and so dead, began to take priority. Games, played with minds far more delicate than his, became his soul source of entertainment. His goals were lost, and for the first time he could remember in his life, he was happy.

Until he became miserable once more.

He'd been stuck in a road-side motel for the past week, choosing to barricade himself from the outside totally instead of staying by day and leaving by night. Complete seclusion drew far less attention than that given to a night owl. As promised, the sudden surge of heat and mugginess had finally given way to storm clouds, dark and gray. That was when he set off once more.

He'd taken a trolley to Cambridge, where he'd taken up residence for a month. The atmosphere had been enjoyable, but for the first time he'd found that the people there were too smart for their own good. Too many scholars, both young and old, asking him questions about his heritage which led to him giving answers he had no reasonable right to know. Suspicion grew, and after he began to feel at least one set of eyes on him at all times, he left, on foot, towards London.

He exchanged his savings for pounds just outside of Warminster, and pulled it all together into a small leather pouch in his bag to be put into an account once he reached the city. In his pack was also five day's worth of clothing, an extra pair of shoes, and a large envelope with assorted maps he'd collected from across Europe. Since he was traveling, he wasn't under enough surveillance to bother with bringing food with him as cover-up.

The faint light you could see behind thick cloud cover had dipped below the horizon well over an hour ago when he first saw the city's lights. He had just been weighing the benefits of doubling back to the last town he been in to stay at the inn for the night. His legs weren't weary, but his mind was starting to get dizzy.

There were curses ahead of him. His ears picked up the sound of scuffling, and he frowned. He had no interest in muggers tonight, nor for their victims. He'd stopped at the top of an incline, and was considering taking a wide-circle around from where he stood when he noticed that, in the considerably small distance, there was just one person, crouching down to the ground. Papers scattered widely around the ground, an upturned briefcase. He scoffed. Not a band of misfits, just a klutz who after all his years of life hadn't perfected the art of walking. He continued walking.

He estimated himself within hearing distance of the human by the time he straightened up, briefcase in hand. He followed at a respectable distance, guessing that this man also was heading to the city. It couldn't hurt to find the easiest way in. Then he wondered if this could be considered stalking, and tried to remember if humans generally let the unaware know of their presence. He was pretty sure they did, but was too tired to keep up a proper human charade.

He looked shorter by about a head, but was walking considerably faster. He felt vaguely concerned that he'd fall again. He knew from experience just how fragile human bodies could be. One wrong fall could lead to a crutch in twenty years.

The human was quite far ahead of him when he fell for the second time, and he was starting to wonder if he was intoxicated. It wouldn't be the first time he'd spotted a drunken idiot wondering about the streets. But the boy seemed to be quite sober judging by his generally steady gate, the curses flowing coherently from his mouth a testament to that. He drew closer, wondering if it was too inhuman to not offer help now that he'd witnessed a second fall. Moments later, he wondered if he'd jinxed himself with the drunk comment.

There was dirt path, reinforced with cobblestone borders, feet from the blond man. The horse-drawn cart, carrying a large assortment of wooden crates, should have been safe out of his way as he re-gathered his papers. The only problem was that he was not on the path, and very much heading straight towards the human he'd deemed frail not a minute ago.

When bored, he would pick up the occasional book. Not a scholarly one, but one he knew humans enjoyed reading for recreation. This was just like in those books. Except the klutz was clearly not a girl, he was not in love, time wasn't slowing to a halt, and he had no clear reason in his mind for doing what he just did, but he did it anyway. Reasons came later. It would have looked suspicious to the driver had he not helped. This man was his ticket into finding easy access into the city. All excellent reasons. Unfortunately for him, he was too old to be able to fool himself into thinking those reasons came before he threw himself at the human like a insane moron, shoving him off the road. The cart might not even have hit him. He might have rolled out of the way. But the chance--_just the chance--_

And when the man groaned, it was like hearing a baby cry for the first time. Like you knew it would be alive, but waiting to hear the first noise… that was what relieved the worry, the nervousness. He was sincerely glad it was a groan, not a cry.

That's when the reasons started formulated, but still, that they'd come after, that he'd bothered interfering, no matter how small, why start now, _why start now_?

"Fool," he muttered to himself, and repeated it in his head for reinforcement. Fool. That's what he was. Then blue eyes opened, making up for the black sky, and he murmured it under his breath again. Fool.

"Ugh." He had a light voice, and when he spoke, it was free of the smoker's rasp so many young men had these days, that he detested so much. "Damn." A dirty mouth, but a clear-speaking one. "Not again."

"Again?" he echoed, and wondered if he should have spoken. The young man started, scrabbling away from under him. He went back on his knees, blinking, suddenly realizing he'd been trapping him to the ground. Was this deserving of an apology? Or was saving his life enough?

"Sorry," the man said, rubbing hair from out of his face. It was streaked with dirt, making him wonder what color it really was. "Can't ever watch where I'm going." His accent was similar to that of the locals he'd met on his way here. So this man was a Londoner?

"This happens often?" he asked, refusing any human being could be so clumsy. Or maybe he had poor vision in the dark?

"Yeah. The ports men can't control themselves on weekend nights." Not what he'd been talking about. "Plus I can't see a think in the dark." This comment was accompanied by a laugh as he bent down to gather the rest of his fallen papers.

The man looked up when he stood, and he thought that he should have at least stayed to help with the papers. It would have been the right thing to go. The human thing. But he was tired, very tired, and wanted to find the loft complex written on a sheet of paper in his back pocket. He wanted to sleep. He wanted the only worry on his mind to be whether it would be sunny or raining tomorrow.

"I am in a bit of a rush," he said. He tried to force as much apology into his voice as he could, and was displeased to hear that it wasn't much.

"Oh," the human said, standing quickly to his feet. "Sorry," he repeated. "Heading into the city?"

"Yes."

"Do you know the way there?"

"Yes," he said tightly, suddenly wishing himself ridden of this man's company. He was distracting him. Even worse, distracting him from the sleep he so desperately craved.

The man felt it his duty to explain anyway. "Just follow this road," he said, "and when you come to the next fork, go right. There should still be a trolley service going."

"Thank you," he said stiffly. "If you will excuse me…"

"Oh!" the man started as if electrocuted. "Almost forgot. Name's Naruto," the blond man said, sticking out a hand, frowning and slowly lowering it when his rescuer didn't take it. That was his right hand. Sasukeh couldn't--

"Sasukeh," he said in return, nodding stiffly before turning to leave, hopefully to never see the human again.

**March 3, 1904**

Until Sasuke stumbled out from the complex's side door, nearly running head-first into a passerby. When he spotted a pair of blue eyes, unforgettable with their strange color, and tousled blond hair--_blond now_--he nearly groaned.

Naruto looked up at him, blinked, and grinned. "Sasuke!" He said it oddly, the vampire thought. Like there was a 'kay' instead of a 'keh'. "Fancy meeting you here."

_You complete and utter fool. _And Sasukeh couldn't tell who he was insulting now.

--

"I've never seen anything like you before."

Sasukeh nearly choked into his tea. And he wasn't even drinking it. "I beg your pardon?"

Naruto grinned brazenly, taking a large gulp from his own cup. Without so much as an apology, he explained, "Your face is different. Your eyes are…" Naruto tried a gesture with his hand, but Sasukeh was lost as to what it could have meant. "And thin. Your face is thin. Where are you from, the East?"

Sasukeh frowned. He knew that many people in this area had never seen a Japanese man in reality, seeing only those ridiculous buck-toothed narrow-eyed copies in the daily. But still, no one had ever called him out on it.

"I apologize," Naruto said suddenly, a light blush dusting over his nose. "It's none of my business. I was curious."

Sasukeh lifted one shoulder in a light shrug. "I don't mind."

They sat outside of a local café. Just a few blocks away from his complex, Naruto told him. After being cornered on the street, Sasukeh found himself being cajoled into lunch with the younger man ("I never had a chance to thank you, you ran off so fast,"). A very one-sided lunch. Naruto was chewing his way through some sort of sandwich he obviously ordered quite often (the waitress brought it out without asking before bothering to take their drink orders) while Sasukeh pretended to enjoy the Earl Grey. He had a thousand excuses in mind to turn down the offer, but curiosity compelled him to stay. He couldn't remember the last real conversation he'd had with a human in quite some time.

"So what brings you about London?" Naruto asked.

"Investment." This was a pre-rehearsed response. His physical limitations kept him from obtaining steady employment, but after no many years and few investments, Sasukeh was able to come up with a sum of money more than enough to sustain a normal human for a lifetime.

"Invest in what?" Naruto asked.

Sasukeh was unsmiling as he said, "Hotels."

"There are quite a few springing up," Naruto agreed. "Department stores, too. They're disgusting. My lady friends are quite pleased, though."

Sasukeh hummed, eyeing Naruto's half-full cup. Planning in his head how long it would take for him to be able to make a polite. Albeit final, dismissal of his company.

Seeming to read Sasukeh's mind, Naruto drained the last drop of tea, leaving only the dregs behind before standing. "Ready?"

Sasuke nodded stiffly, standing up a bit too quickly. Naruto didn't seem to notice. He left money on the table for his sandwich in their tea, waving Sasukeh off when he saw his hand traveling to his pocket. "My welcoming gift," Naruto insisted.

It was a clever ploy, Sasukeh would realize later, once he thought about it a bit. Now that the young man had paid, it would be considered unnaturally rude to make an abrupt departure. Wordlessly, grudgingly, he followed Naruto down the street, like in the direction of his flat.

"Do you have family in the area?" Naruto asked, waving absent-mindedly at a man who nodded at him from the barber shop. "I've not seen anyone in the city who looks like you. Except maybe in the circus." He grinned, his teeth glinting white. It was the first time Sasukeh had seen his teeth. His canines were particularly pointy, and this amused him.

"No," he replied. "Do you live here with your family?"

The smile faded from Naruto's face, and the blond averted his eyes. "No," he said in a voice too airy. "They died a few years ago. Small pox."

Sasukeh winced. The news of that had reached even him, as far as he'd been at the time. "I regret for your loss."

It was Naruto's turn to give a one-armed shrug. "Don't fret over it," he brushed off. "I'd already been kicked from the house by then. Next I heard of them was from the insurance collector."

Sasukeh's frown deepened. Money. It was a growing trend in more cultivated societies to accept it as number one priority. Personally, Sasukeh preferred barter trade. Not that he ever needed anything.

Sasukeh wanted to ask how much the collector had come after him for. This seemed to be a fairly industrial city, so it couldn't have been all that bad. But it was none of his business and, really, he should set about finding the flat owner he'd been corresponding with over the past month about living arrangements. But Naruto was answering his unasked question.

"They actually could get not a pound from my wallet," Naruto said, face lightening. "Turns out I got quite the inheritance." Naruto met his eyes again, and Sasukeh felt relieved instead of unnerved, like he usually did when humans met his stare. He was well aware of how different his eyes were. But Naruto took it into stride, just as he had with his foreign appearance. "My father was the pastor of a Church in Soho."

"Soho," Sasukeh repeated, trying to remember if he'd been there before.

Naruto hummed. "Ever been there?"

"No," Sasukeh said.

"Well, where have you been?" Naruto asked. The much younger man looked incredibly curious. Sasukeh easily recognized that gaze he was fixing upon him. It was that of a trapped man. Someone born with the heart to travel and a million other things keeping him down.

Sasukeh was about to answer when a single, slick rain drop slid from the arch of his cheekbone to the point of his chin. Glancing upwards, he saw that the sky had finally began to crack open. The street's occupants scurried about faster, eager to find shelter before the impending storm drowned them out.

"I should be on my way," Sasukeh said, glad for the excuse to leave. Not because Naruto's presence was over-bearing. It was because with that single question--where have you been?--he wanted to find Naruto the nearest seat, sit him down and talk his ear off. _I've been everywhere. Across Europe, across Asia, through the America's, to Hell and back only I've never left, why would you want to hear about that--_

"Do you fancy a visit to my loft?" Naruto offered. "I can make us some tea, and you can tell me of your travels."

_I'm not interested in your tea, I'm interested in your--_

Sasukeh stopped his thoughts there. He had to go. Never before had he looked at a person and thought of their blood. He thought of them as sentient beings who were always getting lost at the most convenient of times, straying across his bath just as his belly began to ache with hunger. Lesser creatures. Pathetic creatures.

He was getting hungry. It was so dark. So why not--

"I don't believe so," Sasukeh managed, and he could tell from the slightly dejected look in Naruto's eyes that his face had turned as cold as his voice. "I should be returning to my own home."

"But it's about to rain," Naruto said needlessly. _Pat pat patter_. "Have a stay. You could--"

"It was nice to properly meet your acquaintance," Sasukeh said quickly. He stuck his hand out, and immediately wished he hadn't. Out of reflex, he used his uninjured hand. Naruto frowned, but went to shake it anyway. Undoubtedly he'd never shook with his left before.

"Perhaps I'll see you around?" Naruto asked. There was so much hope in his voice it made Sasukeh wonder if that much wonder-lust in a body could be considered remotely legal.

Sasukeh nodded once, tipped his hat slightly at the front, and spun, walking away. He could feel Naruto's eyes on him, heavy and hard, like diamond. Stiffening his shoulders, Sasukeh walked down a few streets, hand already reaching into his bag for the map of West End.

**March 4, 1904**

As expected, after several long days of travel Sasukeh's travel-worn body fell into a fitful sleep. He fell asleep facing the one tiny window in his wall and he woke up in the exact same position.

He sat up straight on the bed, running a hand through his hair. He fiddled with the idea of using the public bath house located down the street, but decided that that venture was best left for night.

Looking out the tiny window, wishing for a larger one, Sasukeh thought to that day's agenda. While his 'investment' answer had been a mere excuse at the time, it might be something worth looking into. It would give him an excuse to linger a bit longer--

_Linger? _Disgusted with himself, Sasukeh stood from his bed. _Pathetic. One person shows interest and I make plans for a long-term stay. Pathetic._

He hadn't bothered to unpack, and he pulled the only clean clothes he had left in his sack out and onto his body. He'd have to visit the dry cleaners. And a department store, for some new clothes.

_There are so many being built. Surely they're looking for co-founders…_

_He's just a child, _Sasukeh thought. _A pathetic child with the worst case of wander-lust I've ever lain eyes on, but a child none-the-less._

But a nagging part of his brain, threatening to take over the other part when given half a chance, was telling him how useless it was to travel the world and then have no one to share it with. And here he'd been presented the perfect audience. A normal human with normal experiences. Someone to compare his own life to. Someone to make him feel--

_What am I doing?_

_What's the purpose?_

_Why not just di--_

--worthwhile.

Familiar thoughts, desperate thoughts, and before he knew it he was depressed. This didn't usually come until several months after he settled, when he'd learned all their was to know about the new culture he was in. That was the point which he usually packed up and left, taking everything valuable with him, throwing everything useless out.

_And I say Naruto was wander-lust._

Sasukeh was outside half an hour later, looking up and down the street. It was busy, the open market not two blocks from his living quarters. He was about to head towards it, the idea of foreign goods tempting him from his pit of depression, a tug at his elbow stopped him.

Turning around, he was unsurprised to see Naruto there. He couldn't stop the words that came from his mouth even if he tried. "Are you stalking me?"

To this accusation Naruto only laughed. "If by stalking you mean waiting for you to leave your loft," his eyes glinted mischievously, "then yes."

But when Naruto tugged at his wrist, showing no surprise at the undoubtedly cold temperature of his skin, into the nearest cafe and began to wheedle answers from him about Scotland, about France, about Germany, Sasukeh found that he didn't really care.

**July 29, 1904**

"So would you say that they're ahead of us?"

Sasukeh frowned slightly in thought, burying his hands in his pockets. Naruto was content to pop another chestnut in his mouth from the paper bag in his hand, which he'd cajoled Sasuke into buying for him ("Come on, I left my wallet at home! Have some pity!"). Brightly colored tents had sprung up across the grounds like weeds after a spring shower. Various bands spotted the area, their combined music making a pleasant backdrop to the chatter of the crowds. Naruto had been pleased to tell Sasukeh about the circus, for once having the chance to know something the foreigner did not. It amused Sasuke that Naruto still got the disappointed look on his face when he knew something about the city that the blond did not.

The traveling circus had set up over night, and Naruto had managed to convince Sasukeh into going with him. It was loud, it was bright, and it was crowded. All qualities Naruto adored, and qualities Sasukeh detested. He didn't like seeing so many faces. Several of them he recognized as belonging to past victims, and there was something about knowing that part of each of them was in him that sent shivers wasting up his spine, his face scrunching up in distaste. He thought he knew why. The idea of them being awake, squirming under his as he bit was akin to a human taking a bite from an animal that was still alive. It wasn't the comfort of the pray Sasukeh was concerned with. It was just… the movement. It wasn't natural for food to move.

"I wouldn't say that they are ahead," Sasukeh finally said, shaking his attention from a pretty red head who he'd feasted upon not twenty-four hours ago. He was sure that if he'd pushed up her sleeve, he'd still see the bites. "It seems to me that they are devolving. Taking the power away from the larger corporations and giving to the government more control. The railroads are more government regulated then they are privately regulated."

"Why do that?" Naruto had never been interested in the politics of England whenever Sasukeh brought them up. Instead, he was more interested in those of foreign nations. The States in particular intrigued him, especially voting.

"Roosevelt--he took office a few years ago--fears that they are cheating the public by heightening prices, effectively crushing smaller corporations. His idea is that taking more power from their hands and into those of the public strengthens reconstruction as a whole."

Naruto picked up from Sasukeh's tone that he didn't agree at all. "I think it's a good idea," he said, ignoring Sasukeh's snort. "I don't see how so few people with deep wallets should have control over so many."

"You forget that they are the founders of industrialization," Sasukeh told him. "They are largely responsible for the railroads, the urbanization of new cities, the--"

"Whoa!"

Sasukeh frowned at being cut off, but his attention, too, as quickly drawn to where Naruto's was. There was a man there, swallowing down a pole. Sasukeh could see the bulge nudging at the skin of his neck. What truly made it special, however, was that it was on fire. And when the fire-eater pulled the pole back out, the tip still ablaze, the crowd, including Naruto, erupted into amused applause.

"Hell," Naruto breathed, shaking his head lightly, still clapping. "That's--hey, he looks like you!"

And he did. Oddly enough, Sasukeh had hoped Naruto wouldn't notice that minor detail. He could automatically tell that the fire-eater was Chinese, not Japanese. His face was slightly plumber, eyes narrower then Sasukeh's. But besides that, the distinct features if their heritages was the same.

An odd prickling sensation began in Sasukeh's stomach, upsetting his nerves, making him frown. For the past several months Naruto had badgered Sasukeh for every minute detail he could give of the places he'd traveled to, omitting the ones he'd seen fifty years ago. No one who looked his age could have traveled a fraction of the places the vampire had been to. But Naruto never showed suspicion, only vivid interest. More than once Sasukeh had the meandering thought that Naruto was forcing himself to be ignorant, but he trampled it down as quickly as possible. Two could play the ignorance game.

But a circus performer… surely he'd been to places, had experiences, that Sasukeh himself didn't. And if the eyes of these mindless Londoners surrounding them were so lit up, Sasukeh was hesitant to look down into his companions.

"He does," Sasukeh finally managed, biting down sharply on the jealousy that fought to choke off his words.

"They're all foreigners, I think. Like you." Naruto had yet to pick up what kind of affect his teasing was having. They'd strayed into the main arena, split up from their into five much smaller tests. Sasukeh stole quick glances under the flaps. Bright red hair. Pitch black. Olive-colored skin. It was a traveling circus, after all.

"You could probably talk to one of them," Sasukeh said, forcing nonchalance into his voice. It was getting close to one. Most of the children had gone home, leaving the older generations to wander about. Even they had thinned, and the tents would be closing for the night in about an hour. Plenty of time, Sasukeh thought bitterly, to talk.

"Probably," Naruto noted, then yawn widely. "I think I'll take a night cap, instead."

Sasukeh blinked down at him in surprise. "I thought you liked hearing about different places," he murmured. "I am sure they have been to more places than I."

"Most likely," Naruto agreed before grinning widely. "Jealous?"

_Yes. _"No." _Just not for the reasons you think._

"Well rest assured," Naruto said. "I find your stories far more interesting."

"Grand," Sasukeh said dryly. "I felt sure I would be able to dump you off on one of them."

Naruto snorted, shoving Sasukeh's shoulder. "Prat."

As they walked back the way they'd came back to the main tent through which they'd be able to get home, he wondered if it would be possible that it weren't his stories that kept Naruto at his side.

**October 28, 1904**

"This is it," Naruto quipped, kicking his shoes off by the door and moving in so that Sasukeh could do the same. "Make yourself at home."

The first thing that struck Sasukeh about Naruto's loft was the image of light. He couldn't, of course, ever be in the room while the sun was up, but just the thought--

Naruto had told him several times before that he was an architect, but Sasukeh couldn't quite believe it until now. Naruto was just too clumsy to imagine with a hammer. But this was a whole different type of architect than the one Sasukeh had been imagining. Several easels had been set up around the room, but instead of paintings there were canvas covered in black and blue pencil marks, all looking like different variations of the same building. There was a roughly put-together workbench in the middle of the floor covered in blue prints, rulers, a number punch, and pencils. A lot of pencils.

Naruto laughed at the open shock on his friend's face. "I knew you didn't believe me," he said, moving past Sasuke to head into the kitchen. "You'll stay for dinner, won't you?"

"I just ate." The response was so automatic that Sasukeh automatically assumed it would raise no suspicion. He went to sit on one of the seats by the tiny round table in the corner with the stove and sink. He could see the bed, wide, placed in the opposite end of the room. His eyes lingered on it. He wondered if it would be soft, hard, how it was Naruto liked to sleep. How he looked when he wasn't smiling, wasn't frowning, just relaxed. Then he began to wonder what he looked like with his face flushed as--

Sasukeh swallowed, scowled, and it was this look that Naruto caught as he turned back around. He'd been unwrapping the parchment from the fish he'd purchased at the open air market. "Sasukeh?"

"Hm?" Sasukeh couldn't quite look him in the eye, instead feigning interest in the rest of the flat. It wasn't difficult. He'd like to get up and survey the drawings more closely, but felt it more considerate to wait and be given permission. Meanwhile, he tried to justify his own thoughts, borne from dreams he still couldn't learn to control.

_There is nothing wrong with it_, Sasukeh thought. _If I cannot bring myself to be interested in women, then…_

"You're sure you don't want any of this?" Naruto asked. "It's fresh."

"Positive."

"You probably eat at a diner every night, don't you?" Naruto scoffed, turning his back on the man.

"Pretty much," Sasukeh lied, leaning back into the polished wooden chair. He froze stiff at Naruto's next words.

"Funny," Naruto said idly as he unwrapped the parchment. "No one in any of the diners I go to have seen either hide nor hair of you. And I eat breakfast out every morning."

Sasuke's features tightened. For someone so idiotic, he could be perceptive at the least convenient of times. Instead of answering the obvious inquiry, he teased, "You talk of me often?"

While it didn't get him the intended blush, it did but him the intended distraction. "The ladies can't stop questioning me about you," he admitted. He took a small container from the cupboard above the stove and poured whatever it was--brown and light, looking almost like coarse flour--over the fish. "Now that they've gotten used to your weird face," he shot a smug look over his shoulder which Sasukeh returned with amusement, "they think you're quite handsome."

"Do they," Sasukeh replied absent-mindedly. "Pity."

"How so?" Naruto asked. He was done coating the fish in whatever that stuff was, and was now laying it in a flat skillet.

"None have truly caught my eye," Sasukeh replied, watching as Naruto struck a match and leaned down to set the burner. It wasn't just Naruto who'd noticed the public's change of opinion of him over the past few months. Now that the oddity of him had worn off, attraction had set in. His lack of history added a mysterious sort of allure into the mix, and resulted in more callers than Sasukeh was comfortable with.

He frowned. Naruto wasn't saying anything more, so that left his mind to steeple in its own thoughts. His experience with the lesser sex was horribly limited. He was sure that if the urge ever arose, he'd have no problem finding someone to warm his bed. It was only a matter of finding a convenient meal beforehand, and he'd be set for the night. But whenever Sasukeh thought of it, his mind was consumed with blood. With feeding. He'd gone only so far with women before the feel of their pliant flesh reminded him of how good it felt under his skin. The heat of their bodies like warm blood flowing down his throat. Losing himself to lust after feeding was fine, but Sasuke considered himself better than that. Higher than that. Degrading himself to submitting to monstrous desires. It simmered down to the fact that he'd be playing with his food, and that was more than enough of a turn off.

It was also one of the reasons why Sasukeh refused to feed from Naruto.

In reality, the docile human was the perfect candidate. He had a fresh, clean scent. His skin was healthy and clear, eyes bright, teeth solid and white in his mouth, hair shiny and kempt, average height with a good, lean build. All signs of excellent health, and a treat compared to most he'd been feeding off of in this city.

Sasukeh couldn't quite put his finger on the true reason he kept from feeding from this man, so he compensated with a few good reasons of his own. Just as he knew himself to be higher than these humans, Naruto was higher than them as well. He was curious and not shy to admit it. He asked questions no one would dare ask. He didn't question why he'd never seen Sasukeh in the sunlight. He didn't care why Sasukeh never spared a single woman a second glance. Sure he would jest about it ("Most are starting to think you're sick in the head!"), but would never truly delve into further questions.

Sasukeh was lonely. It took him quite a while to accept this, but after a few decades he swallowed his pride and was able to admit it. Sure his companion would join him on the occasional journey, but he never stuck with Sasukeh for more than five years at a time. That man had his own agenda, one that Sasukeh wasn't quite sure he wanted to know of.

Naruto was good company. He'd go as far as to say he enjoyed being in the young boy's presence, much more than he rightfully should. And if he was good company to a vampire, to someone with centuries of experience, who'd seen nearly everything there was to see, put him on a much higher level than the walking blood banks crawling across the streets.

"What a shame." Naruto's comment brought him back to the conversation. Naruto still wasn't facing him, eyes focused on cooking his dinner. Sasukeh could smell it, but was greatly displeased that it didn't appeal to him at all. He would have very much liked to try it. "I have a young lady friend who's been wanting to meet your acquaintance."

"Oh?" Sasukeh said. It surprised him that Naruto was bothering to mention it.

"Yes. Sakura." Naruto flipped the sizzling piece of fish over. "Her father's a banker," he said, and Sasukeh wondered vaguely if this was supposed to impress him. "Her mother's Irish. You might have a few things to talk about." His voice took on a more wistful tone as he said, "She has red hair. Like an apple. And the greenest eyes…"

Sasukeh frowned, trying to picture her in his head, and then picturing her next to Naruto. The physical features were too bright--yellow and red, blue and green--to be considered cohesive. "If she is so beautiful," Sasukeh teased, "perhaps I would like to meet her."

Naruto froze. Even from his position, Sasukeh could see how tense the muscles became in his back and arms. Rushing a bit with his words in order to remedy the situation, Sasukeh said, "But I really am too busy to bother with such things."

Naruto hummed. "Too bad." And resumed movement.

Sasukeh waited a few long moments, studying Naruto's posture. He stood up straight when he was nervous. Normally coming to only his shoulders, Naruto must've stood nearly to his chin now. "You fancy her." Sasukeh meant it to be a question, but it came out as more of a statement.

Naruto tensed up again, but he was much quicker to recover this time. He turned around to finally face his guest before asking, "That obvious, eh?"

Sasukeh nodded and kept his silence, an obvious invitation for Naruto to continue. He did so with apparent reluctance.

"I'd never really be able to take such a woman's hand," Naruto explained. "My work is fickle at best, and in such a city, there are far wealthier candidates than--"

"Money," Sasukeh spat. "Is that all you hum--" He cut himself off. Naruto was staring at him with wide eyes, never having heard Sasukeh raise his voice before. The vampire muttered a soft apology, inwardly berating himself for his slip of tongue. He hung around Naruto far too often. The boy's abrasive tendencies were beginning to wear off on him. About to excuse himself for the afternoon, Naruto waved at him in an easy dismissal.

"It was my fault for complaining." Naruto took back to cooking. A minute later, Naruto slid the fish onto a plate and asked, "You're sure you don't want any of this."

When Sasukeh shook his head, Naruto took his plate and cutlery to the scrubbed wooden table, sitting down with it. "My cooking isn't all that bad," he scoffed.

The vampire smirked. "I wouldn't touch your cooking with a ten foot pole." Too hungry to argue, Naruto dug in, effectively ignoring him.

_No problem remedying that._

"You know, I don't think I'd want to meet this lady friend of yours, even if I had the time for such things." When Naruto looked up, shocked, Sasukeh continued in a smug voice, "If you fancy her, clearly there's something wrong with the poor girl."

"_You son of a --_"

**February 12, 1905**

It was upon the opening of the twentieth century that Sasukeh began to lose hope of the reason he'd been living. Every day that passed, whether sunny or clouded, every night, every dinner he turned down, every laugh, everything replaced the memories of a long time ago. His new life, so new and so much more grounded, however much unfulfilled, began to take priority. Long conversations, late night visits, half-concealed forms of flirting, became his soul source of entertainment. His goals were given up, and for the first time Sasuke could remember in his life, he was truly happy.

There was laughter. Of course there was. Naruto was a klutz. Such a klutz.

_Fool. Fool. You God-damned fool._

Naruto had fallen in the market whilst shopping with Sasukeh that evening. The tomatoes squished beneath his feet. He skidded. Sasuke caught him in his arms, stumbling backward as a sudden weigh slammed into his chest, a painless bump to the forehead. However painless it was for him, it hurt Naruto, he jerked his forehead back, twisted as they fell.

_Warm._

_So warm._

_**Fool.**_

__Naruto kissed him, unintentional. The worst kiss, the most satisfying thing, _why, why, why._

The ladies on the street giggled. The men tried not to. Naruto blushed stammering out a million apologies and half-veiled insults simultaneously. He shoved off of him, and Sasukeh wanted to turn him over, press him into the ground, and swear, promise, _promise, not again, I won't do it again, I'm not selfless enough to let go again_. And Sasukeh--

_What am I doing?_

_What's the purpose?_

_Why not just die?_

_What is it that's so important I need to live?_

He remembered.

And for the sake of the man scrambling away from him, Sasukeh sincerely wished he hadn't.

--

**Author's Notes: **Obviously, I changed it so that vampire-Sasuke now has an 'h' at the end of his name. I was getting myself confused as to who I was writing about when I had them both in the same paragraph, and even more confused when I'm reading all of your reviews because I have no idea who it is you're talking about. If you don't like it, please tell me. If enough people resent it I'll go back and put it back to the original spelling.

I did some light research on early twentieth century London for this chapter. Emphasis on the word 'light'. It's a fan fiction, not a research paper, so I feel justified in making more than a few mistakes. The biggest problem is the way that they speak. It's much too modern. I'm unashamed to say I had a Harry Potter book open next to me for reference. Is this the way London was set up back then, geographically speaking? I think so. Did you make most of this up? Yes. Are you that lazy? Yes.

Next chapter in a week or two. Hope you liked it, despite the mistakes.

_**-Kodak**_


	12. Damage Control

"But I can still remember what his face looked like when I found him in an alley in the middle of the night. _Tell me what you know, tell me what you've gone and done now._"

Just to get High, by _Nickelback_

**February 14, 1905**

_He's alive._

As expected, a flurry of thoughts fought for dominance in his head, all centered around the same central idea. And then there were two additional thoughts, simple ones.

_I need more time_

and

_Damage control_

There was no better way to attract attention to oneself than by leaving sexuality up to public opinion. Sasukeh didn't have time. Therefore, he needed to make more. If he needed more time, he needed cover.

_Damage control_

_He's alive._

It was a simple request, but the look upon Naruto's face that lasted all of two seconds before it was artfully concealed made Sasukeh want to take it back. Naruto was entirely too accommodating in setting up a meeting, and before Sasukeh knew it he was faced with Naruto's back as he trailed off and the prospect of a date with a woman Naruto clearly wanted for himself.

_Alive._

Sasukeh pushed and shoved at the reminder, at the constant ache that was a thousand times more painful than any blood thirst. _He's alive. _Sasukeh knew this. And now, it was time to figure out of Naruto knew, as well.

There were several suspicions in his head. The first and foremost was rooted in the fact that the look on Naruto's--_Naruto, my Naruto, _alive--face was more surprise than anything, then embarrassment as everyone within a twelve-foot radius burst into laughter and jeers. His face had remained red for the rest of the day, the blush deepening whenever he happened to catch Sasukeh's eye. Embarrassment. Not disgust. As feeble a hope it was, it was hope nonetheless.

_He's alive._

Sasukeh had woken up in an old barn far from his village, the snow drifting through the rafters slowly, steadily, piling up as high as the bails of straw. The hay he lay on smelled like dust and mold. There was no one with him, only pain, a pain so deep it froze him to the bone. He'd sacrificed himself for someone he loved. And let the memories, so fresh and so deep, drift away and freeze like snow.

It was frustrating. He could remember, but he couldn't--Naruto's face, his face and so much blood. A wicked promise, made near that barn, that damned lonely barn, footsteps _crunching on the snow _and fleeing so fast, leaving Naruto, his face, so far behind, so far that even his name became impossible to remember. Feeling faint, seeing human, seeing skin and _so much blood--_

"Sasukeh?"

Sasukeh looked up from his untouched cup. The liquid was a warm honey gold. He wanted to see him. To see him now, take him by the shoulders, the arms, crush him and smell him until he could, they both could, remember everything. _Alive._

Instead, he forced himself to smile politely at his lunch companion. "I apologize," he said in a silky voice he found himself using when faced with an amorous woman. He used to find it amusing. Now, it was a nuisance. "I find myself spacing out at the worst possible times."

Sakura giggled, smiling back and leaning forward slightly, setting down her teacup. If she'd noticed Sasukeh hadn't taken a sip of his own, she didn't show it. She was a smart girl, he found. Smarter than most who shared her gender, at least. She showed too much interest too openly, but otherwise, he found she didn't intrude too far on the great expanse of thoughts his mind was currently shuffling through. "So Naruto tells me you're something of a world traveler," she said.

"Somewhat," Sasukeh said. "I would not call myself as much a world traveler as… restless."

Sakura nodded in understanding, thought he doubted she had a clue. "Father's never let me leave the city," she said before sighing wistfully. "I've always wanted to visit Paris."

She wasn't the first women Sasukeh had met to say that, and he winced. Personally, he found nothing alluring about France. The people had horrible hygiene, the food created an awful stench in his nose, and inhabitants were downright rude. Instead, he said, "I visited there two years ago on business."

"Did you?" Fascination made her green eyes light up. "Was it lovely?"

It was something. "It was. I could not stay there long. They were not all that interested in new lofts."

"Is that what you do?" Sakura asked. "Invest in lofts?"

"Not quite. I sell shares and investments for lofts and apartment buildings. Lately I have been more interested in department stores, though."

"Did you get that idea from the states?" Sakura asked. How much has Naruto told her about him and his travels? Did he do this often?

"I did. But the business there was… a bit too crowded for my tastes."

"So you moved here?" Sasukeh nodded, feigning a sip of tea. He felt the warmth hit his stone cold lips, and wished for a different sort of heat. "Will you be staying long?"

A sacrifice. One that sapped him of all his will power. Now, there was nothing left to stop him. No more righteousness. No more sense of right and wrong. Sasukeh damned himself for it. Damn it. _Damn it, Naruto, you would have been safe. Safe._

"Yes," Sasukeh murmured, feeling his gaze drift away from the café setting. "I have a feeling I will be staying for quite some time."

Sakura blushed, ducking her head and hiding her smile with the lip of her tea cup. Sasukeh let her assume wrongly. His mind was already in a far away place, focused several streets down, several floors up, to a lonely boy sketching in a room made of a window.

--

Sasukeh first saw him when he got off one of the last trolleys of the day. A bowler squeezed about his head, nose near buried in a paper, brief case swinging from his hand. A man getting odd looks, eyes darting from Sasukeh to this new passenger. At his foreign face. An identical face.

By the time Sasukeh had realized who--_what--_he was, the trolley was getting ready to depart. He hopped back on it, traveling to the back instantly, without so much as giving a second thought to what he was doing. _Just what am I doing? _And then they were off.

Lunch had gone smoothly. Far too smoothly. Sakura had already expressed her father's wishes of meeting him the next week, and distracted, Sasukeh agreed. Sakura's father, the banker. A man with limited intelligence, perhaps, but with enough to probably be able to verify some of the stories he'd told Sakura of his travels. He'd kept descriptions vague, focusing on telling stories of the country side as opposed to politics. It killed two birds with one stone. She was far more interested in the beauty of foreign lands than she was of who was fighting over them, and there was no way Sasukeh could be caught in a lie.

After that he'd gone to pick up several items. His clothing from the cleaners, a few food items (cheap ones, ones that wouldn't hurt his finances, ones that would keep up his charade), as well as several books on ancient Japanese history. He couldn't remember much, and it was obvious that Naruto remembered even less. Perhaps these would spark some memories, illuminate a few hidden parts of the past he'd forced himself to forget.

And now--and _now_--he saw him. He saw himself.

He'd connected things somewhat hastily, but he was so sure of himself, so damned sure, that there was no more room for any doubts. Years ago, hundreds if Sasukeh's estimates were right, Sasukeh had met the second half of him. He couldn't remember if he'd resisted fate or if he embraced it willingly, but he saw his second half. Perhaps he'd been the reincarnate of a different person, who'd also met the same half hundreds of years before him.

And now, before him, was the reincarnate of his second half. And now, right in front of his eyes, was the reincarnate of the Sasukeh that was meant to be with Naruto.

_I never should have lived, _Sasukeh thought dizzily, watching his unaware copy depart the trolley. _This is… this is the man Naruto should be with. I had my chance. I should have died. Fate intended for me to die. And now… here he is._

Sasukeh refused to leave his loft for five days after that. Hunger became his second shadow, darkening everything. Even Naruto's hair, his eyes, golden skin he could faintly remember feel centuries ago, were left drab and gray in his mind. Exhaustion dragged at him for he could not sleep. Constant knocks on his door, Naruto's concerned shouts. But Sasukeh did not move.

_I'm already a monster, so what difference could one little murder make?_

_A world of difference. You can be better He deserves better._

_Then why not let that other man have at him?_

_He might not want Naruto. It might be a coincidence._

_There are no coincidences. This is no coincidence. He's here. For Naruto. _Sasukeh's fists clenched tightly. _I'm just left overs from hundreds of years ago. I'm old. I should be dead. __**I should be dead.**_

_But I'm not._

_But I'm not. What if he doesn't treat Naruto right? He doesn't know him. It would take him years to know him half as well as I do. It's not healthy._

_I shouldn't be here. There's no reason for me to be here._

_But nevertheless._

_I can make a reason._

In the end, the decision was disturbingly simple to make. He'd known his course of actions the moment he'd locked himself in this room. His only battle--the only war, now lost--was against it. To do what was right.

_I've done what was right before._

Although he could not remember what.

_This is a sign._

What had happened? What had _happened_? What was it he'd done, what Naruto had done, all those years ago?

_I'm being given a second chance._

Sasukeh looked out the window. Somewhere out there, Naruto's lover--his real partner, the one he'd been destined to have from the day he was born and even before then, was walking the streets a free man.

Sasukeh'd fists tightened.

_I've done what was right before. Now this is my reward._

_But what was it I'd done?_

_Here is my chance._

_What had I __**done**__?_

His belief, his will, was only reinforced when finding the human was as easy as it was to make the decision. In the end, Sasukeh couldn't hide from what he wanted. He'd done it before. Now was his chance to make up for his past mistakes. _Over and over. If I ever let him go, it would just happen over and over. Over and over._

Sasukeh's reincarnation was lost. He must have been to walk the drab streets of West End so late at night. Women, as scantily clad as the cloudless night sky, hovered about the street corners as thickly as the trash in the sewage drains. Painted nails, painted faces, like dolls covered in grime. He slid past them as quickly as a ghost, and unlike other nights where they flocked to him like gnats to a torch light, they gave him a wide berth. Perhaps it was his eyes, always brighter in the dead of night. Perhaps it was his face, lethal in its concentration.

Perhaps it was another act of fate.

In the dark alley, the chasm between the walls of buildings was so narrow Sasukeh felt his shoulder brush up against it with nearly every step he took. Nails like jagged teeth stuck out and plucked at his clothes, scraping against skin that had long since been conditioned to ignore pain. The man ahead of him wasn't as lucky. His walk was slowed as he tried to avoid the walls. A briefcase swung limply in his _live, warm _hand. There was a map, opened in front of him. He heard the human mutter curses and was disturbed to find how very similar it was to his own. A bit lighter. Unhindered by dark thoughts. His voice had a bit of gravel. Sasukeh wondered briefly if he smoked, and thought _Naruto would hate that taste, it's all for the better, really._

As light as Sasukeh's footsteps were, eventually they found a puddle. The splash alerted the human to his pursuer, and he stopped on a pence, whirling around to face him. It was dark, so dark. Feeble human eyes had little chance of making out his face.

The human took a step back. The vampire followed. "What is it you want? I haven't a lot of money." He was lying, not that it mattered. His eyes had crinkled in the corners. His travel companion told him he did that whenever he lied. So he was wealthy. Did it matter? Sasukeh had plenty of money. More than this human, undoubtedly. And he'd taste better.

The night was so cold. His breath fanned out before him. Sasukeh watched it wistfully.

_What was it I'd __**done**_?

"I can give you all that I have." For a man who was under the impression he was about to be mugged, he was extremely level-headed. Form the tense set of his shoulders, Sasukeh could tell that as soon as he drew closer, presumably to reach for money, the human would attempt to break his neck. Perhaps he would have succeeded, had Sasukeh been human. But this--this him--this human _him_--

He backed away further, into a small plaza where a series of spindling alleyways met. Sasukeh could see him more clearly now. His eyes were dark, very dark, a cobalt gray. His hair was the same, black as pitch, his height seemed about the same. The differences between them were subtle, but noticeable. Had Naruto ever noticed him, the connection would be immediate, but still passable as a coincidence. This man, this human man, would fit into Naruto's life like a key to its deadbolt.

Sasukeh hated him. This feeble human man. But most of all, he hated himself. _What had I done to deserve this? Why, why, __**why **__make me this on top of it. Damn it, Naruto. Damn you. Damn him. Damn me._

_I love you._

"I'm just reaching for my wallet." A definite gravel to his voice. Naruto liked spiced foods. He probably wouldn't mind the taste of smoke on this human's breath. Might even be attracted to it. And Sasukeh would slip out of his life as fast as an interesting, forgettable traveling circus.

_I love you._

If he could cry, he would.

_I love you._

Something locked into place. Something dark, something evil, and it made Sasukeh shake as he stepped into the light of the moon. The dark-haired man's eyes--a deep gray, so deep, Naruto might like them, the calm cool gray as opposed to bitter, metallic red--spread open wide in his face when he saw what must have look to him like a walking mirror. The briefcase slipped from his lax fingers and cracked open upon the ground, scattering papers--schematics, he noticed, _they'd have much in common_--around the vampire's feet.

"I apologize," Sasukeh told his human counterpart, and was slightly disappointed in himself that he didn't sound remotely apologetic. "It would never have worked."

_If I told you I loved you, that I'd never let you go, because I won't, would you find it in your heart to forgive me? Because I can't even forgive myself._

"What are you?" Not 'who'. He was smart. An attractive trait.

An attractive person. A good person.

As Sasukeh swept forward, the human--Sasuke--could barely blink. There was a hand, cold, something hard as stone pressing into his Adam's apple, the feel of smooth leather.

A single crack rang through the night, and then all was silent.

**February 20, 1905**

It was raining that morning. Just like every morning. But the world seemed brighter, somehow, as he knocked on Naruto's door. Brightened even more as he saw Naruto's scowl, but saw more clearly the poorly concealed joy, the relief.

_My second chance._

Sasukeh smiled. For the first time in years, and years, and years, and Naruto seemed momentarily dumbstruck, and the vampire took the opportunity to invite himself into the human's home, sliding the door shut, hands reaching, arms reaching, _the world is so much brighter, finally, __**finally. **_ With the same hand that had wrapped around a pale, slim throat--crack--he cupped the side of Naruto's neck gently, firmly pressing with his fingers. Tracing them into the hairs at the nape of Naruto's neck. Taking advantage of the blond's shock, pulling him closer, another step forward, the second hand reaching out, gripping, pulling, the hand tracing up to his chin to tilt his head, thinking, _Yes, finally, yes_.

**February 25, 1905**

Sasukeh had expected this, and was therefore far from discouraged after being shoved out of Naruto's loft. The door slamming in his face had been amusing. He'd retired back to his apartment, now more of a waiting room than his self-built Hell.

He spent the last few days walking around in a mellow daze. He had a date with Sakura the day before, meeting her for tea, then politely declining the offer to return home with her to meet her father. He'd left before any further discussions were made about meeting again. He paid the tab for his dry cleaning. He'd left for an hour or two while the maid he hired for the evening cleaned his loft.

On the fifth day, there was finally that familiar knock upon his door. When Sasukeh opened the door, smug and assured, all of his confidence dropped to the floor at the sight he was greeted with. He expected an angry face, cheeks flushed with rage. What he got were dark circles under dulled eyes, and disappointment, a bit of sadness, and above all else betrayal.

This, Sasukeh had not expected.

Naruto stated what was so obviously written all over his face. "I thought we were mates."

_We could be_. He nearly shook his head. _Not that kind. Focus. You will never get anywhere, you miscalculated, I miscalculated, __**fix this**_**.**

"We _are_," Sasukeh said, putting extra emphasis on the last word to give the sentence a present tense as opposed to the past tense Naruto was using. Like he was mourning a lost relative.

"Why." Naruto swallowed. "_How_." His eyes narrowed, and the hurt in Naruto's eyes and voice made Sasukeh's dead heart lurch painfully in his chest. "Why would you--how--could you--Do you think I'm stupid? I know you say it often enough, but am I really that much of a fool in your eyes?"

"N-no." Sasukeh stuttered. He never did that. That's when it hit him. Really, truly hit him. He was in love. Again. With the same person. _Therefore this should not be this hard. _Forcing more confidence into his voice, he said authoritatively, "Naruto," but with no words to chase the name down with, it came out feeble and ridiculous sounding.

"You," Naruto gritted out, "complete idiot." And took a step back. To hit him. To walk away. It was one of the two.

For a split second, Sasukeh panicked. Naruto was going to leave. Wouldn't bother coming back. The sensible part of his brain told him Naruto was as deeply rooted to him as he was to Naruto, but the sudden dip of confidence led him into a blind moment of panic. He'd done this motion so often, several times a week in fact, that he hadn't even realized what he'd done until Naruto slumped into his arms, unconscious.

The vampire looked down at him, then eyed the reddened area on his neck that he'd brutally pinched, and thought, _Damn it. _Then Sasukeh said it out loud, just to punish himself, before lifting him up in his arms and walking to lay Naruto down on the bed.

--

Sasukeh had never seen someone so livid upon first waking up. His act of kindness, of laying Naruto on the bed as opposed to the uncomfortable couch, was lost on the blond who blushed furiously, shouting and snarling the moment upon which he found out what he was laying on.

There had been yelling, there'd been screaming, and for a long few minutes Naruto had been shouting at him to get out of his loft. When Sasukeh had finally gotten it across Naruto's head that this was _his _home and like Hell he'd be pushed out of it, Naruto threw up his arms and shouted, "_Fine_. Then I'll go."

This resulted in tugging as opposed to pushing. They toppled into a wall. Sasukeh flung an arm out to take the brunt of the force, but this polite act earned him a punch in the face as their chests pressed together. The awkward angle from which the hit was thrown cause the punch to lose a lot of its intended force, but Sasukeh forced his head to snap to the side, just so Naruto would at least think he got in a hit. Grunting, he spun them around, felt his own back hit the wall, Naruto stumbling into him. Their legs tangled, Naruto cursed, and asked, "Why, why, you think I'm an _idiot?_" Sasukeh held on tight, confused and very much lost as to what to do. By the time he'd realized what it was, exactly, that Naruto was upset about, the human had nearly tired himself out, panting heavily. His breath tasted sweet, felt warm, on his cold tongue. So did his lips. He swallowed Naruto's yelp, and by his waist tugged the blond closer. Naruto punched him again. Sasukeh didn't even bother to jerk his head to the side.

The tangle of lips and tongue lasted only five seconds before Naruto twisted away, panting, and backing up step by step. But he wasn't running. The small glimmer of hope in that gave Sasukeh his voice back. "Do you…" Sasukeh said slowly, "want to never see me again?" He knew the answer before he received it.

Naruto blinked dumbly, appearing floored. "No." His mouth was red, and Sasukeh licked his lips. He caught Naruto tracing the motion. It felt good to be wanted again. Wanted by the right person.

"Then I will not. But…" Sasukeh straightened up, trying to seem taller, but Naruto didn't seem so short anymore. He looked perhaps a little stronger than he did a week ago, for a human that is. Stubborn to resist the fate Sasukeh had been weak enough to succumb to. "But things will change."

Naruto snorted. "Says you," he spat, sounding angry. Sounding a bit scared. No one liked change. Even if the possible outcome was a good one, it was best to stay with the good things one was familiar with. Naruto was not unique in this.

"Yes," Sasukeh agreed. "So says I." He took a deep breath. "You want a friend. I apol--no, I don't. I can no longer remain a companion to you." Naruto was looking at him oddly. "I will no longer stand for such a low status. And for that, I am not sorry."

Naruto snorted again, and it sounded forced. When Sasukeh stepped forward, reaching for his hand, for his anything, Naruto brushed by him without a word. Sasukeh didn't turn, listening to the sound of the door shutting behind him.

_Why didn't I stop him?_

_It's his choice._

_I'll chase him anyway._

_Yes… but let him choose. Let him choose._

_It would be better, always better, to have him choose me._

_Don't force him. Don't force him._

Outside, it began to rain.

**March 2, 1905**

When Sasukeh opens the door, Naruto is standing there and glaring at the threshold. He mutters something under his breath that Sasukeh can barely hear. He hears a 'bastard' buried somewhere in there, but doesn't mind much. Because when he reaches for Naruto's hand, tugging, Naruto does not try to pull away.

**May 9, 1905**

It took long days, long hours, of convincing before Sasukeh finally was able to draw Naruto into his bed. To feel skin that wasn't just at his face, his hands, or the occasion brush of his back. It was like warm rock, muscles rippling and tensing, the peach fuzz on the skin causing tremors to shake Sasukeh down to his core. But after so many months of gentle prodding, of teases, he began to push, and push, literally and figuratively, holding Naruto down as he struggled half-heartedly, distracting him with his mouth that must have felt so cold yet Naruto never questioned it. He knew. Must have known Sasuke was different. Sasukeh realized then, drawing back to look at the flushed human with his shirt halfway undone, that perhaps Naruto hadn't been resisting because of his gender. He was smart. And naïve. A deadly combination. He was ignorant of his own knowledge. Piecing together why Sasukeh never came to visit on sunny days, why he never ate with him, why he never let Naruto's tongue into his own mouth, pushing into his instead, why he'd never take off his gloves, why his smiles were tight-lipped, refusing to show teeth.

Perhaps Naruto resisted him because he knew, on all levels of consciousness, that Sasukeh was not human.

_Self-preservation_

_He's scared_

_Self-preservation_

"Trust me," Sasukeh breathed. The words sounded more like a demand than a plea, and Naruto's eyes darkened in slight distrust, in lust, in fear, and above all--

_Want_

Want not just for his body. Not just for his company. But for him. Always him.

"Trust me," Sasukeh breathed. Slowly, his lips parted, farther than he'd ever parted them in an awake human's presence. He could tell, from the widening of blue eyes, that Naruto saw them. "Trust me." He felt his fangs brush against his lower lip as he spoke. He wondered if, when he first awoke to being a vampire, it hurt to move his mouth. Feeling the constant digging of fangs into the tender flesh of his lower lip. He was sure it did.

Sasukeh dipped down to kiss Naruto's slack mouth. Shock? Fear? It was like kissing a statue, so he moved down, down to familiar territory. Naruto's throat jumped beneath his mouth, and a hissed, "Don't." Sasukeh looked up, surprised. But Naruto was staring at his mouth. "Don't," he repeated, and Sasukeh understood.

"I will not," Sasukeh promised. "Not unless you let me." Unless you want me to.

He moved to kiss him again, and this time, warm lips parted without Sasukeh's encouragement. The blond reached a steady hand up to shove lightly at Sasukeh's shoulder and the vampire complied, rolling over to his side. He drew his arm up, encircled Naruto's waist, and tugged until the boy lay half on-top of him, kissing still. Sasukeh could taste the questions burning on his tongue, but it was so warm he wouldn't let the human draw back to ask him. Just for a while. He traced patterns across Naruto's back, felt a hand palm the muscles of his shoulder, and he groaned, kissing fiercely, drawing nearer, nearer--

**May 15, 1905**

"How did you know what I was?"

Naruto hm'ed quietly. He had made a cup of tea for himself. It was the first time he'd had Sasukeh in his own home for quite a few weeks and, almost awkwardly, he'd fetched only one cup for himself, not bothering to ask Sasukeh if he wanted anything. He knew the answer already. And now, Sasukeh was wondering why.

"You've never had anyone figure anything out anymore?" Naruto asked, stalling.

"No," Sasukeh replied back stonily, and wondered if he felt resentment. If that was what made him so anxious. No one, in several centuries, had ever figured him out. But this boy, just this one small boy, had him caught. But then again, he'd never gotten this close to a human before. And it was _Naruto_. Naruto, who knew him better than he knew himself.

"I can't say that I… I still don't, really, know what you are." Naruto did this a lot, Sasukeh thought idly. Found himself stumbling for answers, always rushing to fill in the silence with words before he could sort out his thoughts. It was both a gift and a curse. A gift, because Sasukeh was always able to hear unedited thoughts. A curse for the very same reason. "I just knew you… weren't like me?" It sounded more like a question, and Sasukeh smirked, leaning back into his chair.

"And that never bothered you?"

Naruto gave a jerky shrugged. "You were different. Not bad."

_Wrong._

"Thank you."

Naruto snorted. "Whatever," he muttered, twisting the tea cup in circles on the table before him.

Sasukeh wasn't about to let it go. If he tried to resurrect this conversation at a later date, he knew Naruto would clam up and it would be near impossible to extract answers.

"You like different, don't you?" he pried and, as expected, Naruto's overwhelming guilt complex pushed him to speak.

"That's not the reason why I… fancy…. Your company." Sasukeh snorted and Naruto took it the wrong way. "It's true!"

"I know that, fool." Sasukeh sighed. His eyes glanced at the tea in Naruto's hands. "Is that any good?"

"Huh?" Naruto looked down. "Oh, it's all right, I suppose." He swirled it around for a moment, looking contemplative, before looking up with a expression caught somewhere between mortified and curious. "Is blood any good?"

Sasukeh chuckled lightly, and Naruto flushed scarlet, looking very much like he wanted to take back his question. "It's all right," he mimicked.

When Naruto turned away, muttering angrily under his breath, Sasukeh stood to circle around the table. Naruto look up at him curiously. With a pang, the vampire noted the slight tinge of fear causing his eyebrows to crinkle inwards slightly. He couldn't blame Naruto for this. It was human instinct to fear things that they knew were more powerful than them. To help, Sasukeh crouched down on one knee, lowering himself so that he had to crane his neck slightly to meet Naruto's eye.

"I'm not some cornered animal." And then the blond surprised him. Even though he felt that he knew this Naruto, knew him just as well as the Naruto from his memory, he was still caught off guard all too often.

Sasukeh's lips tilted upwards, slowly and easily, like he'd done it every day of his very long existence. "I know." There wasn't much conviction behind the words, which was probably the reason behind the glare Naruto aimed at him now. In order to avoid getting himself into any more trouble, Sasukeh leaned forward for a kiss. He was done talking for now. Dozens of questions littered the space between them, but a thin blanket of lust suddenly covered it all. Naruto resisted for a short moment, shoving Sasukeh lightly on the shoulder, before fisting the older man's hair and tilting his head, allowing the searching tongue to sweep firmly at his mouth. Sasukeh kept a steady hand on Naruto's hip, holding it against the back of the chair, tilting his head and leaning closer as…

**June 17, 1905**

Naruto clawed at his back, mouth agape in a silent scream. Blue eyes slammed shut, and Sasukeh wished they hadn't. He so craved that color. He could only imagine the pain, so he kept it as slow as possible, stilling himself and waiting, counting in sync with Naruto's breaths. Thighs quivered around his hips, clenching tightly, daring him to move.

A full minute passed before Naruto's legs unclenched enough for Sasukeh to pull back before pushing forward again, and even then it was slow, the pace maddening. Naruto groaned and Sasukeh's lips planted furious kiss over whatever patch of skin he could reach. The hands were in his hair now, tugging his mouth up, then their tongues tangled. Sasukeh moaned before pressing in deeper, moving faster, and Naruto cried softly into his mouth.

Soon it was louder, harsher, their noises undoubtedly traveling through the thin walls, but they didn't care. Rain rattled the windows like a cage, and Naruto groaned, arching. Sasuke pushing faster and deeper, mouth agape, teeth poised and so ready like the horse at the gate, waiting for the gun shot.

Naruto nearly cried. Sasukeh could see the monumental effort it took not to. But then he began chanting, "Yes, yes," in between thrusts, and Sasukeh made longer strokes, thinking that was what he wanted. But then the human tilted his head to the side, baring his neck, panting into the pillow, "Yes, yes." Yes, you can. Yes.

Sasukeh didn't wait for further encouragement. He'd wanted it nearly as much as he wanted his body, his brain, the steadily beating heart in his chest, and everything in-between. So bad. Badly enough that the blood he'd forced himself to indulge in over the course of his stay in London rotted and turned putrid in his mouth. He bit down. Not on the throat, but further down, deep into the pit between neck and shoulder, opposite his heart, and drank deeply. Naruto shouted, body convulsing, the shock bringing him to an abrupt climax. A harsh suck was given with each jab of his hips, because Naruto had gone and done what he shouldn't have. If Naruto had begged him to stop, he wouldn't have been able to. It was frightening. It was enlightening. It was exhilarating. And when full, Sasukeh groaned, pressed, saw white such a _blinding white_, it was gorgeous, like riding a storm_. _Naruto writhed, groaning, and with his body, with everything he possessed, Sasukeh held him down, holding, and drowning in the blissful realization that Naruto was more than willing to let him.

**November 2, 1905**

He found Naruto just as he was exiting the bank. Sasukeh had found that, while his bank account still listed quite a large savings, having it dip any lower would be a bother. Now that Naruto knew of his true nature, there was no need to keep up the charade of a traveling investor, but after several months the idea had become somewhat appealing. He'd invested in a three-story Macy's two months ago, and his share had tripled since it had opened its doors a month ago. He was just cashing a check given to him by the lender when he spotted Naruto.

Naruto stood with two other people. One, he recognized, the red-headed Sakura. Next to her was another man, his hair rather short and bunched into a sloppy ponytail at the back of his head. Sasukeh debated going over to join them, or to at least lure Naruto away, when the blond finally felt the heavy gaze on his back and turned. Naruto smiled in his direction before turning back to his companions, waving them off when they said something to him, and then jogging across the street. They looked suspiciously in Sasukeh's direction. However much the blond was willing to accept Sasukeh for his dangerous differences, the rest were not. The vampire shook off the nagging thought--_it's getting late. Suspicion is starting to arise. _Sasukeh had never stayed in one spot for nearly this long, and he was just now remembering why. But Naruto was by his side now, smirking up at him because he knew Sasukeh was jealous, was practically reveling in it, the smug little--

Sasukeh decided to humor him. "Just how many suitors do you have?" Sasukeh teased, but there was a trace of seriousness in his voice.

Naruto just laughed. "Gentlemen don't have suitors," he said, eyes dancing. "Damsels do."

"Well I'm no damsel," Sasukeh breathed into his ear, ducking lightly to let his cool breath well in Naruto's ear cannel. He saw goosebumps prickle the back of his lover's neck. They were walking a bit too close, and people were staring. _I can't stay much long--_Then Naruto laughed and changed the subject, a little too quickly, like Sasukeh had whispered a private joke into his ear. He was dense, but not dense enough to miss the looks.

"Feed yet?" Naruto breathed some time later when they turned to the alleyway that would lead to his complex. They rarely went to Sasukeh's anymore, and time and time again Sasukeh had to explain to Naruto why it was he couldn't move in--"What will I do when the sun comes up, idiot? Kip under the bed?"

"No," Sasukeh admitted, turning with mischief in his eyes. When he quickened his steps a bit, Naruto laughed breathlessly. "But I would very much like to." Sasukeh never quite got the attraction of having one's blood sucked, but Naruto never gave him a serious answer, and Sasukeh never complained about a willing food source. Naruto's blood taste so much better than most, at least to him. Spicy and hot, with a taste he would have lingering on his tongue for hours afterwards.

When Naruto's hand reaches up, tucks the hair behind his ear, and smirks, eyebrow quirking, he knew how much of his neck was showing, damn _minx_, Sasukeh curses under his breath and all other depressing thoughts were drowned out.

--

Two hours later, there was rain on the windows, and Sasukeh sighed in contentment. Naruto chuckled from somewhere beneath his chin, planting a kiss over his chest. The room smelled like ozone, like copper, but more potently, like them. Sasukeh dusted his fingertips over Naruto's back, enjoying how slick it was with sweat. Sweat he'd caused. He pressed harder, massaging, and Naruto sighed in contentment, stretching to give Sasukeh better access.

They stayed silent for another hour, dozing on and off, listening to the rain, listening to their breathing. At one point Sasukeh tried to initiate another round but Naruto pushed him off, chuckling, _"Twice is enough,"_ and they fell back into a companionable silence.

Until…

"I have a question."

"Hm?"

When Naruto didn't immediately respond, Sasuke pulled back slightly to look at his lover's face. "Naruto?" The human wasn't meeting his eye.

"I don't know if you're comfortable enough to answer."

Sasukeh snorted softly. "Naruto," he scoffed, "ask." Very few things made him uncomfortable these days. Nervous, anxious, but not uncomfortable.

"Well…" Naruto turned a bit away from him, laying on his stomach. "Have you always… been a…"

"Vampire?" Naruto averted his gaze. "No." They eyes snapped back to him, and Sasukeh shifted uncertainly under the sudden scrutiny. He propped himself up on his elbows before finishing his answer. "I can't remember much of my human life before this." He clenched his right hand slightly for emphasis, and the familiar ache returned. His hand felt so heavy. "Just a few key details." He knew it was a mistake to add the last part because Naruto asked him just what those were.

Sasukeh sighed. He'd progressed so far. Their relationship had taken such a sharp turn, so fast, so quickly, and oddly enough, not once was it based on distrust. Except for--_crack_--

Swallowing back the guilt, refusing to loop an arm around Naruto until he forced himself to forget that doing so would put Naruto in a murderer's embrace, Sasukeh decided to tell him the truth.

"I remember fields," he said. "Rice patties. My tent." He was never at home. Always, forever, traveling. Like now. Perhaps it was a trait that carried over to this new life. "I remember a lot of deaths." By my hand. "And… you."

"Me?" If he wasn't curious before, he most certainly was now. Naruto sat up, the sheet falling away, and Sasukeh glance down. Naruto ignored him. "What about me?"

Resigned, calling himself several sorts of idiot, Sasukeh said, "Yes. You were there. Not… you, specifically. Obviously not you, as you are here now, but still, distinctively, you." The past Naruto was a bit shorter, he remembered. His eyes were a bit darker, his hair almost white blond, but everything else--except, of course, one detail. He examined Naruto's cheeks closely, trying to decide if he liked them better with scars or without.

"Like, a reincarnation?"

Sasukeh hummed, lifting a hand to trace Naruto's hairline. "Technically, love, you would be the reincarnate."

A rather unpleasant look crossed Naruto's face. Not ugly, but… Sasukeh didn't like to look upon it. He couldn't quite place the emotion, or emotions--certainly Naruto had to be feeling more than one--but it instantly made Sasukeh regret having ever started the conversation in the first place.

The look hadn't gone from Naruto's face when he asked his next question. "Was he a vampire, too?" 'He'. Not 'I'. Sasukeh instantly realized his mistake, and knew immediately that there was no way to correct it.

Reluctantly, he answered with the truth. "I don't know."

Naruto didn't look away. He pushed Sasukeh's hand away--_what are you doing, Naruto, don't make me_--and then hands were at Sasukeh's naked shoulders, and Naruto had pushed him into bed, climbing on top of the vampire.

"Naruto?"

There was a hand in his hair, stroking, and Sasukeh was nearly distracted by it. It was one of those rare moment, moments which he despised, in which he felt as weak as a human. Breakable. Too fragile to breathe on, even, and he scowled. "_Naruto_."

Naruto tilted his head down closer, and Sasukeh thought for a brief moment that the blond man was going to kiss him.

He got something quite a bit different.

"How does one become a vampire?"

**--**

**Author's Notes: **I'm sure you could all do very well without this knowledge, but for the purpose of this fiction, the way vampires are designed is that the blood in their veins remains stationary until they feed. Once they've ingested blood, their own blood courses, adrenaline goes, and… Long story short, before intercourse, they'd have to feed. Kind of like jump starting a car. You can't get it going until you give it a little jolt. So on that **June 17** part of the chapter, a few hours before they had sex Sasuke had gone off to feed.

I get far too technical, don't I?

_**-Kodak**_


	13. Missing

**Author's Notes: **Keep in mind that there are three POV's in this story--19th century Sasuke's, Naruto's of the 21st, and Sasuke's of the 21st, and as of now they are all operating on different dates.

--

"Tears stream down your face, when you lose something you cannot replace. Tears stream down your face, and I--

Tears stream down your face. I promise you I will learn from my mistakes. Tears stream down your face, and I--"

Fix You, by _Coldplay_

**December 25, 1905**

Naruto laughed at Sasukeh's expression as he pulled it out of the box, and laughed even harder when he regarded it with a wary eye before reluctantly twisting it around his neck. Compared with his fair skin, black hair and dark clothes, the bright orange material of the scarf looked utterly ridiculous. "Dashing," Naruto snorted.

"Thank you, I suppose," Sasukeh said dryly. It was truly a horrid color, and probably the most eye-catching thing this side of London, but it was soft and faintly warm from the box sitting so close to the fireplace.

Naruto grinned back. "Haven't you ever heard that it's the thought that counts?"

"I believe I have," Sasukeh replied. Still chuckling, Naruto reached across to grab the wrappings and stood up to add them to the small pile on the side of the hearth before taking his cup to the kitchen to refill it. Sasukeh watched with half-hooded eyes, still fingering his new scarf. It was quickly cooling down to match the arctic temperature of his skin, and somehow that made the color seem a little duller.

"So did I get you everything you wanted for?" Sasukeh didn't bother to raise his voice, knowing that Naruto was listening either way. He shifted closer to the fireplace, letting it warm his back. Lately he was getting colder, and as much as he'd like to blame the weather there was only so long he could fool himself. It was Naruto's fault, Sasukeh knew. Being around the human for so long, touching and holding a solid mass of warmth and heat, had spoiled him. The cold he'd conditioned himself to forget was now a conscious feeling again.

He hated it.

There was a long pause before Naruto said, "Almost." His reproachful tone of voice was not lost on Sasukeh, but he was determined not to let this night go to waste. It was the first time he celebrated a holiday in hundreds of years, and he didn't want to get into this argument today. Didn't they have it enough already? Once a day, twice a day, sometimes it was all Naruto could talk about.

"Put it on next year's list, then." Even as the words came out of his mouth, Sasukeh could detect the hesitancy in his own voice. Sasukeh was no longer new in town, no longer unapproachable. People were starting to look more closely. He had to run for food more often. Had to put more effort into his small 'business'. Even then, there were things about him that he knew people could sense were just not right.

Forget a year. Sasukeh might not have a few months.

The thought of having to leave Naruto here were unbearable enough that Sasukeh often forced himself to forget about them altogether. The thought had been tormenting him long before Naruto had asked him--_"How does one become a vampire?" _so casually, _like it doesn't matter_--and now the blond was forcing him to remember. Forcing him to consider things the same part of him, the human part, didn't want to deal with.

"Bollocks," Naruto replied. "There may not be a next year." He had to go there, didn't he? Of course he did. He was Naruto.

"Don't say such things," Sasukeh reprimanded gently.

"Just because you can't face the facts," Naruto's voice grew louder as he re-entered the room, hot cider steaming in the chipped mug, "does not mean that I have to." He sat on the edge of the couch instead of the floor where Sasukeh was seated. Instead of the angry expression Naruto usually got on his face when this was brought up, one that Sasukeh found incredibly attractive, his eyes were dead set and serious. Calm, very unlike him.

Sasukeh diverted his attention from Naruto's serious gaze to the new easel in the middle of the floor. He'd noticed that Naruto's was beginning to splinter at the legs, and however much the blond said it didn't bother him, Sasukeh knew he'd like a new one. Naruto was like this with a lot of things. Everything important, his cooking utensils, his books, his supplies, were always kept in perfect mint condition. The human took good care of them. It was the complete opposite of Sasukeh, who believe that a little tarnish did no harm. In fact, it was better. A little damage showed just how well-worn and well-loved it was.

"Sasukeh." The vampire looked back at him with nearly as much reluctance as he'd had putting on the scarf. He wondered how stupid he looked in it. "We need to talk about this some time."

Sasukeh snorted. "I see no reason to," he said regally, cocking his head up so that even at their different levels, it appeared that he was looking down on him. "I answered your question. There's no need to go no further."

"Yes, you did," Naruto agreed, and Sasukeh knew what was coming from a mile away. "And it sounds perfectly safe--"

"How does having one's blood completely drained sound safe to you, by any stretch of the term?" Sasukeh cut in, but even then Naruto's face remained calm and passive.

"You said," Naruto went on as if he hadn't been interrupted, "that I can drink from you, right?" Sasukeh didn't answer, so Naruto took it as a 'yes'. "I can--bite you, and then I'll be fine. With just a little of your blood. You're strong enough to stop me if I go too far, are you not?"

"I don't know how fast your fangs will grow," Sasukeh told him. He folded his legs from under him until he sat cross-legged, and with one arm propped his forehead in a tired manner. Not tired, just frustrated. There was a rational and irrational part of his brain, and Naruto was preaching right to the latter. Sasukeh had never been a patient man from the get-go. He was afraid that if that second part of him won out, it would ruin him, just like Naruto had. Ruin him for all else, throw all rationality to the wind and act, like he'd always done. Calm reasoning wasn't his strong point. It was acting. Letting that beast out of the cage might mean he'd never be able to lock it away again.

And Naruto was dangling the key right in front of his face.

"Then cut yourself with your own." Naruto was finally starting to sound exasperated, but in a new way. Not frustrated that Sasukeh wouldn't listen, but because Sasukeh refused to get it, refused to understand his logic. But it wasn't that he couldn't understand, just that it was the last thing he wanted to do. Or the first. No middle ground.

"Naruto, I cannot."

"You _can_," Naruto insisted, getting up only to kneel before the taller man. "You said your traveling companion, what was his name--"

"Hey only told me his assumptions," Sasukeh reminded him.

"That are probably true," Naruto finished. He placed his hands on Sasukeh's knees, and instantly the vampire felt the wonderful, gorgeous warmth. Spoiled. He'd been spoiled rotten. "He's been alive a lot longer than you. Met with fellow vampires."

"We lost correspondence a while back," Sasukeh said. "He might have found out something new."

"Spare me," Naruto scoffed.

"You never know, Naruto."

"But I _do_," Naruto insisted. "I can feel it in my gut, Sasukeh." His fingers began to gently massage his knee caps, and Sasukeh tried to imagine how he'd feel about the loss of this warmth. But compared to what he'd gain in return, it hardly seemed a casualty.

"You're probably just hungry."

Naruto didn't rise to the bait. "I can _feel _it."

_Yes. As can I._

They were both silent for a long time, both waiting for the other to say something. At some point, Sasukeh had reached out and pulled Naruto into his lap, arms winding their way around his waist and holding on tightly. He knew it must have hurt. With so many endless years on his hand, he had fine-tuned his body and muscles to use every fiber of strength they held, and he was far stronger than the average human. He used that strength now, probably bruising him but he didn't care. He just wanted to hold, to clutch, what was his. What was taken away and given back, and with it that damned niggling feeling that giving in was wrong. Let him go, _let him go, _let him be human.

_I want him. More than anything else. No matter what's in the future, or what lay in my past, never will I want something as strongly as him._

"Sasukeh?"

The vampire sighed, slackening his grip and allowing his lover to settle more comfortably. "Naruto," he answered, feeling the man press his face into the side of his neck.

Softly, warm breath swelled in his ear as Naruto whispered, "I love you."

Sasukeh clenched his eyes shut and grit his teeth for a moment, wanting to and not wanting to at the same time, to bite and not let go and to hold him, really hold him, and they'd be cold together, never needing the sun. "I love you too." It was a sigh, his sounding so graveled and dirty when following Naruto's. How could this human ever, ever, in a million years--what was it Sasukeh had done, and why was he getting only half a second chance, was this a reward or a punishment because it surely felt like--

Softly, Naruto kissed the side of his head. Somewhere in his chest, Sasukeh thought he felt his long-since dead heart lurch. Along with it, the beast began to break loose.

**March 2, 1906**

Two years. Sasukeh had officially outlasted all of his previous stays in one particular place. Now people were greeting him by name. Their eyes followed him on the streets, none too friendly. Rumors began. Whispered from behinds hands and into greedy ears. Sasukeh heard Naruto's name in these whispers more than once, and when a patron at the dry cleaner business he frequented inquired as to his previous place of employment, Sasukeh knew that it was time to go.

He walked slowly towards Naruto's place, quietly rehearsing in his head what he would say. He walked about the block a couple times to stall, and stopped at a street corner when he realized he couldn't think of a single coherent, sensible thing. It would be far easier to just leave in the middle of the night without a word, like a bad dream.

The thought made him shudder. How was it fair that he'd live to be tormented with this while Naruto was free to live a perfectly normal life? Would Sasuke grow to be so old that he forgot this Naruto, too? Probably.

There was a ruckus a few blocks down that he could hear from his brooding spot. Because it would be abnormal not to go and gawk like a strangled chicken, Sasukeh's legs moved automatically to escort him there. He'd soon have to find shelter for the day, though. On the horizon, the sun threatened him with dusty orange fingers clawing against the sky.

There was a mess of wood against the wall when Sasukeh arrived at the scene. Across from it, an unharmed horse picked at the weeds that grew between the cobblestones, completely ignorant of the human escapades occurring behind it. It was a sentiment Sasukeh could get behind. Vaguely disturbed that he connected better with a horse than a human, he refocused his attention elsewhere, and inevitably upon the bleeding body.

There were woman wailing and crying for the man, and Sasukeh found himself frozen to the spot. Flecks of blood had gotten into his blond hair, and his eyes, now a dark and glassy blue, were unfocused on the ground before him. His one arm was twisted behind his back, clearly unhinged, and his legs tangled like lace below him. His shoe had fallen off, and the ankle Sasukeh could still taste was bare to the cold air. His mouth, always so warm, was blue and red. Face scraped. Unmoving. Utterly still.

Sasukeh felt himself collapse.

Only he hadn't. Only his mind. And once it had done that, once his thoughts dropped away one by one like rain water through the storm drain, he realized that the dead man was not Naruto. His hair was a sandy blond, his eyes more hazel and green than blue. He was short, and dressed the same, but the face was completely different. Utterly different. A tear ripped through Sasukeh's chest.

Inside of him, the cage broke.

There was a dead man behind him, and a million more on his conscious. Guilty as he was, as selfish as he was, that would have been Naruto two years ago. And it might still be him years from now, or days from now, if Sasukeh let it.

He must have looked odd, running as he was, with more emotion on his face that these city dwellers had ever seen. He was foreign, so strange, so different, who was he, a monster, to think that he deserved such a thing? _Who did he think he was?_

Sasukeh's felt tired, a peculiar phenomenon. He couldn't remember his limbs feeling tired in so long, just like he hadn't remembered what it felt like to be cold. Naruto brought out the very worst in him. Cold, tired, frustrated, possessive, greedy, selfish, so irrational, and even though he knew that by not leaving now, by not leaving _right this instant_, he'd be ruined for life, Naruto had already destroyed him. He'd destroyed him once in some nameless part of the world, and he'd reentered Sasukeh's life to do it all over again. And he wouldn't get away with it. Not this time.

Forever.

_Forever._

Sasukeh didn't enter like he normally did, just pounded away at the door. Half hoping that Naruto wouldn't answer, would in fact never answer, because he didn't exist. But of course he did, at first looking confused, then surprised, followed quickly by concern. "Sasukeh? What on earth--"

Sasukeh kissed him then, if nothing then to shut him up, Harshly, cruelly, and he felt blood blossom into his mouth when he did it too hard but he didn't care. Didn't care, even, if Naruto didn't kiss him back. He pushed him in and then pushed him down, onto the floor where he pinned him with his mouth, mouth eating at him, hands greedily stroking at his skin and stealing away everything that he was. Blood dripped down a tanned cheek and when Sasukeh roughly stroked his face, it sneered into his hair.

Naruto was gasping for air through their mouths, and Sasukeh could feel his heart beating frantically where their chests connected. Naruto begun to pound at Sasukeh's chests, obviously needing air, but Sasukeh was greedy now, nothing but desire and want, so he kept the kiss a few seconds longer. His. _His._

When the vampire finally pulled back, it was to meet a furious and confused glare. "Bloody hell, what was that about?" Naruto spat, moving to swipe the blood away from his mouth with the back of his hand. But Sasukeh pinned his wrist before he could and looked, trying to see if this sight was acceptable. Naruto's lips smeared with blood. It wasn't that bad. And besides, the blood should not be wasted. His head bent down, and even though Naruto twisted his face away, Sasukeh still began to lap it up from his cheek. When Naruto realized he hadn't dove down for another brutalizing kiss, he calmed down, even turned his head so that Sasuke could lap at his torn lips.

"Well?" Naruto asked once Sasukeh had sighed into his damp cheek, finally finished. Sasukeh didn't raise his head from its current position as he whispered lowly into Naruto's ear, "I can give you what you want."

"What I want?" Naruto repeated sarcastically. He began to struggle from beneath him, but Sasukeh kept him firmly pinned. "What I want is for you to get _off _ so that I can pound some sense into your stupid--"

Sauskeh cupped his cheeks as he ranted an drew back to look him in his eye as, slowly, he repeated himself. Then again, replacing the "you" with a "we", then waited. Prepared to repeat himself until the end of time if that's what it took for Naruto to understand. Thankfully, it only took three times before Naruto got it. He looked so human staring up at Sasukeh with such hopeful eyes, so naïve in his young age.

And Sasuke, being the monster all fairy tales knew that he was, took advantage of it.

**February 28, 12905**

While it took Sasukeh only a few days to close down his relatively small business, it took Naruto much longer. Due to an inborn feeling of guilt, Naruto took the time to set each of his clients up with a new and trusted constructor. When asked, he told them that he wanted to get out and travel while he still could. To learn more things. They'd all shaken their heads in disappointment, and eyed Sasukeh with dirty glares as he walked down the streets for influencing such a bright young mind, for taking away their prodigy with his tales of travel and adventure.

After a while, it was settled. Naruto had moved in with Sasukeh for a short while in order to sell his things. He couldn't just leave them there, he said. There was a young boy Naruto had grown close with, Konohamaru from down a few streets, who aspired to be a designer. All of Naruto's things went to him. Once he'd dropped his key off to that windowed room, to the place where he'd built upon his dreams, he went back to Sasukeh's, and the vampire held him. Silently, a few tears trickled down. Soundless as snow. The next day, there was no trace of his earlier sadness, only that endless flow of hope Sasukeh had seen ever since he promised to fulfill Naruto's wish.

That evening Sasukeh had signed off for the closure to his lease and shut the door, leaving behind all the scarce furniture. After an hour-long carriage, they reached the outskirts of town where the dirt grew more and more uneven. The carriage dropped them off at the trail station, and from there a two-hour walk to an abandoned barn he remembered passing on his way here. He remembered nothing of his own transformation, but the fact that he'd woken up in a barn far away from civilization suggested that they needed privacy. Would it be painful? Would the blood lust be so strong Naruto tried to run the second he opened up demonic eyes for the first time? Sasukeh had no answers to these questions, so he took all the precautions that he could.

On the inside, the barn was just as decrepit as it looked. Sasukeh was glad that he'd thought to bring oil lamps with him, because he didn't trust any that he'd find in a place that looked this old. The smell of mold and decay fermented to create an altogether horrendous smell, and it made Naruto wrinkle his nose.

"Romantic," he chuckled.

Sasukeh rolled his eyes. "Idiot," he mumbled under his breath. But he couldn't help but agree. He thought that such a transformation should occur in a more… stupendous place. But this would just have to do.

Sasukeh watched Naruto as he walked lightly into the middle of the room, spinning slowly and taking it in. A rotted wooden floor, rafters full of grimy hay, undoubtedly host to all sorts of creatures. It was hard, but somehow Sasukeh mustered up enough guts to ask him, "Naruto, are you sure that you want this?" He meant his tone to sound firm, but a tiny, niggling plea crept into his voice. Perhaps his rational side, the one beaten to submission, wasn't as gone as it might seem. But it was soon beaten back into submission as Naruto turned his eyes on him. Those clear, bright blue eyes.

"I'm sure, Sasuke," he said quietly. "What will it take for you to believe me?"

Sasukeh didn't answer. When he bent down and hooked an arm around Naruto's legs and lifted him into his arms, the human didn't complain. Carefully, Sasukeh carried him over to the cleanest patch of hay he could find before kneeling, setting Naruto down. In a careful, even voice, Sasukeh asked, "Will you let me have you?" and it sounded more like a marital vow, more like a promise, than a question.

Naruto answered by fully relaxing into the straw. So much trust it was dizzying. Trust in that promise, trust in a half-baked plan that they knew little about but believed with every fiber of their existence. Sasukeh had never seen Naruto as calm as he was now, laying beneath him, turning his head but keeping their gazes locked as he bared his neck. Softly, a tan hand tugged at the first button of his shirt and widened the collar. His chest rose steadily, like he was sleeping.

"I love you." And from Naruto, born in the nineteenth century to a poor family, then to an orphan, from the Naruto who he met by accident and saved on a whim, from the Naruto that simultaneously saved and condemned his soul, who was as selfless as Sasuke was selfish, who loved him so much he was willing to give him this…

From this Naruto, they would be the last words Sasukeh ever heard.

Carefully, Sasukeh sunk his mouth down to Naruto's neck. The skin was warm and had the most wonderful taste. No single patch of skin on Naruto's body tasted as good as this did. He kissed it, smelled it, savored the warmth, and licked a patch. Naruto remained motionless and calm as Sasukeh licked his way down the column of his throat and stopped then, lips hovering above the jugular, so close to the heart, a clear pathway for the poison to the heart. Naruto's heart. And now, it was Sasukeh's heart.

He bit down.

The first few moments were just like any other time when Sasukeh bit him. He drank more slowly this time, though, knowing that if he did it too quickly he'd drain too much blood from one part of the body and not enough from the rest. Sip by tiny sip of pure heaven. He knew that Naruto must have been in immense amounts of pain, but the human gave no show of it. Instead, he began to slowly pet Sasukeh's hair like he always did when he felt the vampire needed calming down.

Sasukeh didn't know when to stop. He couldn't keep track of the time, but eventually Naruto's hand dropped from his hair and to the ground. His breathing was slightly hitched, raspy. Carefully, Sasukeh withdrew his fangs to look at Naruto's face. His face was as white as parchment, his lips and eyelids tinged blue, but what was most surprising of all was Naruto's mouth. His lips were smudged faintly with blood, and when he opened his mouth to draw in another strangled breath, there were two gaps where his molars used to be. Sasukeh pulled Naruto's upper lip up--it was so _cold_--and saw the fangs. Not long by any measure of the word, but there. Growing. Slowly. Very, very slowly.

Instantly, dread washed over him. Frantically he yanked at the cuff of his shirt, but a part of his brain was already telling him it was too late. The fangs were too short, and even from this distance looked nowhere as sharp as his. How was Naruto supposed to bite into the hardest substance on the planet with those? So he bit into his own wrist, and nearly gagged. A rotten taste bloomed in his mouth in nauseating waves. His own blood was cold as ice. Nevertheless, he frantically pressed it to Naruto's mouth.

"Drink, Naruto," Sasukeh ordered. He could feel the wounds in his arm heal as fast as he realized what the purpose of such short, dull fangs were. They weren't meant for biting a fellow vampire--"Drink, damn you!"

_Useless._

_Useless._

The gaps between Naruto's shaky breaths were lengthening, and this time when Sasukeh put his own wrist to his lips he tore a large chunk of flesh, pain ripping through him and vile blood spilling over them both. He pressed his wrist to Naruto's mouth, knowing that it wasn't what he was needed, that he was wrong, _wrong, _so wrong.

"Please!"

The blood welled in Naruto's mouth, painting his face. His eyes were no longer open, closed gently, and Sasukeh cursed himself for not keeping their gazes locked. He wanted to see those eyes, one last time--

The last time.

"_Do not take him away from me again._"

The third time Sasukeh pressed his wrist to Naruto's mouth, never having considered a human, such a weak creature, to be needed in this--a third party, a stranger, to be needed for something so intimate--Sasukeh knew that whatever he'd done in his human years must have been too despicable for Hell to handle. Too cruel for Satan himself to deal with. So they did this to him.

_Why_

The fourth time, Naruto had stopped breathing.

Throughout the night, he tore at his wrists. Would have torn at his neck if he could reach. Tried to find something sharp enough, ripped at it with a switchblade but nothing cut him. Sasukeh was growing faint, but throughout the night, as Naruto grew colder, colder, colder than ice, as the beast inside him roared, as his heart mourned a loss he wasn't ready to accept--the blood was cold. In Naruto, in Sasukeh. It ran cold from sitting in it so long, as Sasukeh talked, as Naruto listened. As the vile scent drifted around them, bathed them, the dust Naruto had been covered with, then dying down to a faint background smell. Naruto tilted his head back and saw, still, Sasukeh bending down to bite into his neck. The bath water was so cold now, and he hadn't noticed he was trembling until Sasuke began rubbing his arms, holding him close, and whispering that it would be all right, _I have you now._

_You won't be taken from me for a third time._

**November 28, 2005**

Sasuke sat lowly on the tree branch. He could practically feel his lips chapping, but he didn't dare let his tongue dart out to lick them. They'd freeze over in a second. Streaks of yellowish light swung haphazardly beneath him from the police officers' flashlights. Sharp growls and barks from the canine unite lit the night up with the carnal sound of nature. He could no longer feel his feet; he'd made sure to walk a good ten feet through the small crick that halved their back yard before scrambling over the rocky band and up the tree, making as little contact with the wood as possible. It seemed to be working, as the search party was heading further North.

Sasuke peeked at his digital watch and grimaced. 9:41. He'd been in this tree for nearly five hours. His and Naruto's house was lit up like a Christmas tree as officers searched it top to bottom, either for Sasuke or a dead Naruto. Perhaps both. They wouldn't find either. Still, Sasuke felt indignant at such an invasion of privacy.

After Sasuke had fled through the back door, he heard the doorbell ring. Stupidly, he waited in the tree for them to leave. He heard his door being kicked down, and planned to slip back in after their departure to pack a bag and car keys. But within twenty minutes a large fleet of police cars were parked across his lawn. There were even more than when Sasuke had first arrive to Japan. Obviously, they weren't here to merely question Sasuke. They were here to arrest him.

At 10:01, Sasuke deemed it safe enough to move. Even under the cover of night he decided to move slow. His limbs burned the whole way down the tree, and he grunted as he collapsed to the ground. His legs were momentarily paralyzed from their lack of movement, and feeling set back in by form of painful cramps and stinging needles. Sasuke hissed through his teeth and moved to his knees. Tried to wiggle his toes. If they were moving, he could feel them. But his heels were on fire, and that was enough feeling for him.

He slowly pulled himself up from the ground. His hair, which had still been slightly damp upon his exit, was frozen to his scalp. Sasuke shoved his hands into his pockets and rubbed them harshly against his cold thighs. Then, slowly, he began to walk.

He made a wide circle around his house, and kept to the outskirts of the woods that bordered one side of the town. Stumbling in deep dips of the forest floor. Walking in a bit more deeply whenever he saw a light window. His final destination was normally a ten minute walk from his front door, but with the way he was traveling, it took Sasuke over an hour before he finally arrived at Sakura and Lee's townhouse. It was connected to a second home on its right. All windows of both houses were black.

Cautiously, Sasuke threw his gaze left and right before darting to the sliding back door that led into the basement. Sasuke had no doubt that it would be unlocked, and surely enough, it slid open without resistance.

Sasuke allowed himself a heavy sigh of relief. The house wasn't just warm, it was blazing. He immediately shut the door behind him and moved away to the hallway. There, he collapsed to the floor, panting. He hadn't realized he was out of breath. This room had been converted into a sort of second family room. There was a large plasma TV mounted to the wall with three different game consoles and a DVD and Blueray player. A wide wall full of movies. The walls covered with old movie posters. Whenever he and Naruto visited, this was often where they ended up. There was a two-seater couch they always favored, where Naruto would threw himself if Sasuke was already sitting. Pushing the breath out of his lungs. He could still remember Naruto's laugh. An inane chuckle cracked his mouth. It sounded like a dead croak, and his entire chest ceased up as if flash frozen. Nothing. There was nothing there now. Everything, _everything _was gone. Sasuke didn't cry. His mouth hung slightly agape, shoulders slumped, eyes dead. Everything, everything was gone.

_And he didn't even know why._

"Sasuke?"

That was the same voice as on the phone. Sakura's voice. Sasuke didn't bother to respond. The hallways light flickered on and several pairs of footsteps thundered down. And then stopped when they reached the hallway and caught sight of him.

Slowly, Sasuke lifted his head to meet their eyes. Sakura. Lee. Shikamaru. And slowly, he hissed, "What the _fuck _is going on?"

**November 23, 2005**

Naruto got up from the bed to start the kettle, scratching at his head and looking behind him. Sasukeh was there, to his surprise. He thought there'd be sun today. He should have been gone by now. But the room was so dark that maybe it was Naruto's internal clock that was askew.

Naruto made it five steps before he tripped over something he could have sworn wasn't there a few hours ago. Groaning at the pain in his stubbed toe, Naruto shifted onto his knees. The wooden floor was oddly scratchy, like the woolen rug they had laid down at work. Like carpet--

The breath left him in one foul sweep, and oddly enough, without even thinking too hard on it he was feeling at his wrists. Skin. No metal cuffs. The second was Sasuke's face. Sasukeh's face. Both so similar he couldn't differentiate between the two, that feeling deep in his chest. The contradictory notion that chained him to this one man while simultaneously making him feel like the freest man on Earth. The feeling that made him believe worldwide peace was possible and that the world was too cold and cruel to get out of bed, to not even bother and just stay in bed with this one man, with Sasuke. Sasukeh holding him, kissing him, just talking and it wouldn't matter what he said. They'd stay in bed, for the rest of their lives, not eating, just sleeping and talking and touching until time, like the sand in an hourglass, dwindled away to nothing.

And one of these men, whom he loved so deeply they were like fully functional limbs on his body, he'd have to let go.

Automatically Naruto's body chose the easiest possible route. He slowly stood. The pain in his foot was gone, and a great, sorrowful numbness plagued his body like a fast-acting poison. The clock on the bedside table read 12:01. Naruto didn't need to look outside to know which time of day it was. He could feel it in his bones, just as he knew that at a relatively short distance away, there was a human being who needed him, who'd known only Naruto his only life and would change anything, _anything, _if Naruto would ask. Just as he knew that a few feet away, there was a being who needed him for much longer, who'd suffered so much pain, that had had so much taken away from him, that he no longer knew how to keep anything save by force.

Sasukeh had double-knotted the ties, triple-knotted some. Naruto got to work on the ones tying them to the floor first. When he crouched to the first, he noticed the apparent lack of pain he usually felt when Sasukeh stayed over. Then he remembered he hadn't slept with the man for close to a hundred years, and inescapable guilt added itself to the emotional load Naruto was doing his best to ignore. It was going to take a lot more than untying a few simple knots to rid himself of one of them. One of these people… one of these lovers… They were so similar, and Sasukeh had always told him there was something missing, and Naruto had accidentally fallen in love with that something now. That living, breathing something that was out there looking for him, misunderstanding everything, wanting him back. And then Sasukeh, who waited a thousand times longer than his short patience usually allowed…

They were tearing him apart, and in order to avoid that, Naruto would have to cut it off himself. To break one of them so well beyond repair it would never come back to haunt him. But either way you cut it, the body couldn't go on functioning when half of it was missing, could it? Why couldn't he, Naruto, own any of his own self? Why did he have to hand it out to two selfish people, to one person, really, they were so similar, they were the _same_…

Naruto finished unknotting the tight ropes binding the heavy. Velvet curtains to the floor. A hairline fracture of light glowed brightly beneath it. Naruto had finally figured out what Sasukeh hadn't managed to after such a long life. That part of him that had been taken from him the moment he turned.

He had to get a chair to reach the ties at the ceiling. He lifted it gingerly and brought it back. Sasukeh slept soundly behind him, perhaps even dreamlessly. Sleeping during daylight hours came naturally to him, but Naruto found himself wide awake as he wiggled the ties loose. Sasukeh had only double-knotted these. It made sense. The iron rods drilled into the plaster was more than enough to keep them in place.

Cautiously stepping off the chair, Naruto then moved it to the other end to work on the second curtain. Sasukeh was too tall to be able to reach these with the ease that he did. Said vampire shifted in his sleep behind him. The line of light on the floor danced as the loosened curtains shifted slightly. From the bulge at the bottom seam, Naruto knew that heavy chains weighed the curtains down. Over-protective indeed. Naruto wandered how this over-protectiveness could possibly coincide peacefully with Sasukeh's over-confidence. His confidence that Naruto would want to stay, or at least hear him out after having passed out in the bathroom.

Or maybe it wasn't over-confidence. Maybe it was trust. Just trust.

Naruto's hands were shaking so hard by the last knot that the light danced as fast as a flickering flame. His knees were buckling, and when he moved to get off the chair, he stumbled. Sasukeh slept on. Perhaps he'd fed while Naruto slept. He knew now how tired Sasukeh could get after a heavy feeding. He'd slept through an entire two days before while Naruto stayed beside him, trying to sleep and replenish the blood loss. They'd both been more cautious after that.

There was a two-foot gap where the two curtains overlapped, and Naruto slipped himself into it in order to undo the dozen ties that ran down the length of it. There were also metal buttons that dotted the space between the knots, and they made an unbelievably loud sound in the quiet room.

Naruto estimated it to have taken him about half an hour by the time he'd finished. Blinding light struck his face for the first time in days, and it was the most beautiful thing he thought he'd ever feel. He spent a precious fifteen minutes there, enjoying the heat. Ignoring reality was just a side perk. But eventually, he drifted from that too and back into the room. Still as black as pitch, but the edge of the floor around the curtain had a faint glow. The bed was directly in front of him. Sasukeh's bare arms, shoulders, and head were above the covers, facing him. Still sleeping. Naruto grabbed the underneath curtain. One tug, not even that far, would send a blinding bar of light straight over the bed. Perhaps reaching through the covers, but definitely able to strike his face.

Naruto could leave now. Step into the light. But Sasukeh would come back for him. Naruto knew he would. And this time, he might think it a better idea to just eliminate his competition altogether, Naruto's feelings on the matter be damned.

Finally, finally, he had figured it out. What it was that Sasukeh was missing.

His hand curled around the edge of the curtain.

**November 28, 2005**

"What the _fuck _is going on?"

Sakura looked nervous, twisting her hands and worrying her lip. Sasuke couldn't read Lee's face, but then again, they'd never been close. But Shikamaru's expression was one of vague triumph.

"I think," he said slowly, "that I've found Naruto."

**November 23, 2005**

Naruto had been standing there for around two hours by the time Sasukeh woke up. He blinked slowly. Even the tiniest bit of light filtering through made his body slowly edge back in the bed. The vampire froze in place, however when Naruto's hand twitched. The curtain billowed slightly. However fast Sasukeh was, he couldn't move his whole body faster than Naruto could move just his arm.

Naruto could feel the light, butter yellow, illuminating the right side of his body. To Sasukeh, he must have looked like death itself. How ironic.

And, like baring his throat to a blade, Sasukeh sat up. The blankets fell like so much water. His chest was white, perfect. The glove on his hand. Sasukeh said it hurt, but he'd always liked it when Naruto would kiss the edges. Naruto's lips, he said, felt like a heating pad to the long-since dead muscles. Sasukeh had explained this all on one moonless night. In return, Naruto had promised to him the use of _his _hands. He'd sworn to Sasukeh his whole body.

He'd promised it to Sasuke too, their first night together. Both breathless and scared and trying their best to hide it. "Yours," Naruto had breathed, "Yours. Take it." Take _me_. And Sasuke had, because Naruto had promised.

Naruto didn't bother to keep track of the thoughts running through his mind. Subconsciously he was aware that soon, the sun would begin to dip. Yellow light slowly shriveled and died to an ugly orange color. Sasukeh sat, staring at him, waiting. Waiting like he had for hundreds of years, waiting, waiting…

Sasukeh would allow him to do it slowly. To ease the curtain back inch by excruciating itch. To freeze him to marble in the slowest way possible. Sasukeh would not move. He'd let Naruto do it.

_Stop me_

Naruto's hand shook minutely. He pulled it back a centimeter, and _STOP ME _found that doing so caused him a pain far greater than that he'd ever experienced. Being a vampire made him no less human. Hunting him, trapping him, stealing him made him no les of the man Naruto had willingly fallen in love with.

The bed was split by a thin line of light. Naruto had pulled it back far enough that a mere centimeter of light shown. Like a target.

Still, Sasukeh did not move. Blinked, slowly. Not over-confident. Just trusting, _trusting_, wasn't that all Naruto had ever wanted?

But to halve himself. Or to take himself entirely from one and give to the other. Was that even possible? No. It wasn't.

_Tick_

_Tick_

He recalled a Robert Frost poem, one he'd had to memorize and recite in a high school class. "I think I know enough of hate," Naruto whispered softly, like a prayer. Sasukeh didn't look confused. Just that he understood.

_Tick_

_Tick_

Like a bomb, the sky turned black. The room was cold, and empty.

Sasukeh pulled the sheets back, making room. The curtain fell from slack fingers, the second part of Naruto withering and dying on the floor. A clean break.

Never once had Sasukeh strayed from his path. Always set, never changing, always there and waiting for what he knew would inevitably come.

_I know what you're missing._

Slowly, Naruto went to him.

--

"Lights will guide you home, and ignite your bones. And I will try to fix you."

Fix You, by _Coldplay_

**Author's Notes: **This story has reached over 500 reviews. Because of that, I've decided to post a poll asking readers what one-shot they'd most like me to write. Whichever option has the most votes by the end of November, I will write.

Thank you for your continuing support of the story. What started off as just a whim turned into a hobby that I very much enjoy. I know that the last few chapters have been a bit of a drag for you all, so in case you skipped/skimmed it, please read below for a relatively brief summary of the events that took place in the 1900's.

Sasukeh met Naruto on his way to London, where they slowly built up a friendship. At one point, Sasukeh suddenly remembers that he'd met Naruto hundreds of years ago during his human life, and that this Naruto was a reincarnate. Soon after this realization, Sasukeh sees a human who looks exactly like himself roaming the streets. Inwardly knowing that this was the person fate had intended for Naruto, Sasukeh kills him. Although the details of his past are very vague to him, Sasukeh nevertheless ends up together with Naruto several months later. Due to his supernatural nature, Sasukeh's made a point to never stay in one place for very long. Naruto convinces Sasukeh to turn him into a vampire as well, and the two plan to depart town. Unfortunately, the details of the process that Sasukeh had heard second-hand were unclear. Sasukeh drains Naruto of his blood and tried to get Naruto to drink his to complete the transformation. Upon seeing his small and rather dull fangs, however, Sasukeh realizes that it's the blood of a human needed to complete the turn, not that of another vampire. With no human in the area, Naruto quickly dies.

"Now why couldn't you have just said that instead of dragging this out for three chapters?"

Shut up, I was having fun.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in a review or a PM. Until next time!

_**-Kodak**_

**PS: **Sorry, just one more thing. I've posted a new poll on my profile. In order to celebrate _Teeth _reach 500 reviews, I'm going to write a one-shot of your choosing. You can vote for up to two options. If you have any ideas others than those listed, just tell me!


	14. Sasuke

**November 24, 2005**

_ When he moved so slowly, like he thought my skin was made of egg shells, I began to believe that I could break, too._

_ I guess that's where everything started to go wrong. Letting him take care of me._

_ How could I know he had to be taken care of, too?_

**November 28, 2005**

Sasuke was a bit slow on the uptake, but eventually, "What," slipped out, followed belatedly by, "do you mean?" like he'd forgotten how to string together a proper sentence. Somewhat dumbly, he swiveled his head from side to side as if he expected Naruto to be standing there in the hallway with them, hidden in the shadows.

Shikamaru's voice snapped him back to attention. "I told you over the phone that I couldn't track Naruto's from all the towers in this state. Do you remember?"

Sasuke nodded numbly, fiercely beating back a sharp quell of hope that had rebelliously starting to inflate inside of him, like an airbag during a car crash. But instead of continuing, Shikamaru waved Sasuke towards him.

"C'mon," he said, voice even more dead tired than it usually sounded. "I'll show you."

As steadily as he could manage, Sasuke rose to his feet. Every bone in his body felt frozen in place, and movement was a burden he didn't feel quite like dealing with yet. But he was warmed by the thought that the upstairs might be warmer than the basement, and by a half-finished promise that finally, _finally _someone had found something useful.

Lee and Sakura moved out of his way as he followed Shikamaru up the stairs. He could hear them follow, their footsteps as loud as his in the quiet room. When they reached the door, the faint glow of Christmas lights danced across his retinas. Lee always wanted to decorate early. Naruto was going to help them, and Sasuke would have helped if he hadn't taken that trip. That stupid, idiotic, selfish trip to a piece of shit spit of land….

Shikamaru led them up a second flight of stairs, to the guest room. It was the only room in the house with the lights on. It was furnished with a twin-size bed, a bureau, a large oval mirror set in a beauty stand, a desk, and on the walls several pictures from group outings. The curtains were drawn, the cream-color carpet bright in the light. Upon the desk was a Mac computer, so old that the back of the monitor bulged over to meet the wall. It was the only piece of technology in the room, and however old it was, it was out of place.

Shikamaru gestured Sasuke over towards it, sitting on the chair. It creaked beneath his weight as he fiddled with the mouse. Instantly, the black screensaver was waved away and the screen was filled with things one would never expect to see on such an old desktop computer. It was then that Sasuke noticed several thick ropes of cord circling from behind the monitor to a box twice as ride as the computer tower. The front panel was removed and the plastic stripped to reveal a jumble of wires within, and what looked to be around half a roll of electrical tape. "What…" Sasuke muttered, but Shikamaru shushed him for silence. He was tapping away at the keyboard now, every now and then reaching up to do something with the mouse. The door shut silently behind them, and Sasuke couldn't tell if Lee and Sakura were still in the room. His eyes were fixed to the screen and what looked like an endless stream of binary code. Several bars floated at the edges of the dying screen, loading something, or several somethings.

A few minutes later, just as Sasuke was considering interrupting again, the computer beeped. It was the first noise in the room besides the typing of keys, and Shikamaru sat back in his seat, a vaguely satisfied look on his face.

"When I called you the last time," Shikamaru said, "I told you I was going to start checking all the cell phone towers in bordering states, and work outwards from there."

Sasuke nodded, even though he couldn't remember. The screen had a small window of binary at the bottom right, but a majority of the screen was filled with a neon green gridline map.

"Well, it turns out I didn't need to," Shikamaru continued, eyes darting to the screen before meeting Sasuke's again. "As soon as I heard that Naruto was kidnapped, I started a search for Naruto's cell phone. When I found it was still at your house, I gave up on that and stayed tuned in with the police department handling the case.

"There are three ways this could have gone, and don't be upset with me for this--it was ransom, a murder case, or a different sort of kidnapping. The first I ruled out after the first twenty four hours. The second I dismissed because if that were the case, there wouldn't be much I could do anyway. So I started to think on the third.

"There isn't much reason," Shikamaru continued, "to kidnap Naruto. I ran background checks on both his parents, and their records turned up completely clean. Same with his family. No ties to gangs, the mafia, drug dealers, no anything. So retribution was out. And Naruto's a man, which rules out the option of a stalker or an obsession. And while you have quite an inheritance," he nodded at Sasuke, "that would be no reason to keep Naruto for as long as he has. He would have called for ransom by now.

"So, reason-wise, I'm just as without a clue as you and everyone else. It made it hard to put myself in the shoes of the kidnapper--how safe he would feel staying in one place at one time, how far he'd be willing to travel--and they have a wanted notice in airports keeping an eye out for Naruto. Nothing. So he hasn't made any long-distance plans for travel.

"So would he be traveling by car, by truck, with the aid of an accomplice? I figured by car, and I calculated how far he could get if he traveled twelve-hours out of a day. I got nothing. But then I realized one mistake." Shikamaru held up a finger, and looked slightly ashamed at himself. "What if he hadn't moved at all?"

Sasuke frowned. "What do you mean?"

Shikamaru sighed. "When I first started tracked your cell phone's signal, it had been more than forty-eight hours since the initial kidnapping. So I started with towers outside a fifty-mile radius. I had to hack into the mainframe of each one individually, and this system can only do five at a time." He frowned. "And there are a _lot _of cell phone towers. I didn't bother with the ones near us; I thought he would have taken Naruto far from here by now." There was a short pause in the stream of words. "But I was wrong."

Sasuke paid much closer attention to the computer monitor now, eyes practically glued to it, trying to make sense. Just green squares, tiny strips of code lining them in some areas. But now he could see it. At the top right, a tiny speck of yellow in the black background.

Shikamaru pointed at the dot. "This," he said, "is your cell phone." Sasuke stared at it like it was a long lost relative. "And this," Shikamaru dragged his finger down and to the right, right to the corner of the screen, "is where we are."

Sasuke's breath snagged in his throat. He stared at the dot even harder, like it could swallow him up and spit him out wherever it indicated.

"Your phone is off," Shikamaru said, "but not really. Because you were prissy enough to get a Blackberry, in fact. Those things never really turn off. It maintains a connection to the internet whether on and off, and can receive e-mails, texts, nearly everything even if the battery is dead. So the signal's still fairly strong."

Sasuke didn't realize how hypnotically he'd been staring until he felt a hand on a shoulder. He jumped, and his head snapped around to meet Sakura's concerned eyes.

"Sasuke," Sakura said slowly, like she'd rehearsed what she was about to say, "you have to realize that this isn't a one-hundred percent chance. The kidnapper could have thrown it out the car on his way, or someone might have found it and just kept it."

Sasuke turned back to Shikamaru, and found in him an ally. "This whole area," he gestured the top half of the screen, "is downtown. The area of the city that's due to start reconstruction in the spring. It's… highly unlikely that anyone would be driving through it."

When Sasuke turned back to Sakura, he was already saying, "See?" More to convince himself. The hope couldn't be shut down anymore. It was overriding everything, making him feel better than he had in days.

But just as quickly as he found it, he lost it. "Sasuke," Shikamaru said, "Sakura's right."

"I agree," Lee said, stepping forward. He was in plaid sleeping pants and a university hoodie. They must have been in bed when Shikamaru came over, toting a massive computer and a warning. "Nothing ever is, Sasuke. You can't get your hopes too high up."

Sasuke wasn't having any of it. "Do you have an address?" Sasuke asked of Shikamaru. "A street name? A direction? Anything."

Shikamaru sighed, rubbing at his temples and muttering darkly under his breath. "Before you go running off," he said, "I feel I should remind you that the entire city is filled with people wanting you in cuffs. And however righteous your cause, they won't let you go gallivanting off if they catch you."

"I know," Sasuke snapped. "An address." He tagged on, "_Please_," like the word was an insult.

Shikamaru continued as if Sasuke hadn't interrupted. "You need to drive carefully, slowly. Give no one any reason to pull you over. I'd suggest pulling over at a diner or parking garage and continue on foot. If they see anyone driving in that area of town, it'll arouse suspicion in an instant."

_Going through a deserted city full of drug dealers and the homeless, during the dead of night. In winter. _Sasuke scowled. _Fun._

Shikamaru dug in his pocket for a second before pulling out a rather chunky cell phone, the kind you got for free when signing up for a plan. "Here," he muttered, handing it to Sasuke. "Once you get into the city's borders, calling me on that." He nodded at the phone Sasuke was tucking into his pocket. "My number's the only one programmed into it. I have the line scrambled through the satellite to automatically re-network to several out-of-state towers, so tracking it should be impossible." Sasuke nodded his head to mask his confusion. Shikamaru stood up, cracking his back and yawning widely. "I'll be waiting for your call, and I'll give you directions from there."

Sasuke nodded again, waiting. Shikamaru was staring at him, and Sasuke's eyebrow ticked. Where were his other warnings? Where were the long list of precautions? Before he could ask for Shikamaru to just get it over with, Lee said, "You can use my car," and Sasuke realized that this was it. All he needed was the phone in his pocket, the car keys Lee was holding out to him, so cold and solid and real in his hand, and _Naruto, _waiting somewhere out there for him. Naruto. "Naruto," he said out loud, and the name filled him with a happiness he didn't think he'd ever feel again. _Naruto._

_ I'm coming._

**November 24, 2005**

When Naruto woke up, it was to an empty bed. He was tired, as if he hadn't slept a wink, and sore, sore everywhere. The clock blinked 1:30 in the morning, and with so few hours of darkness left, Naruto decided it was time to get up.

Naruto slowly slid from the warm covers, every muscle in his body feeling over-taxed. Halfway across the floor he realized he was shivering and tracked back to the dresser drawers. Pulling out a shelf, he shuffled through but gave up, mentally abrading himself for being so picky. He couldn't even pinpoint why. In the end, he went to the closet and pulled it open. Sasukeh's robe was hanging there, dark, silk, red and warm. He pulled it over his bare shoulders, tying the knot twice, and padded out of the room.

He found Sasukeh downstairs, watching a random television show on mute. There was no remote in sight, and when Naruto sat down, Sasukeh didn't look up. Just stared over the television screen, into the wall, the multi-colored light making his face glow surreally.

After a while, when Sasukeh refused to initiate conversation, Naruto asked of him, "Now what?" Sasukeh had been leading him along all this time, with such confidence that it was frightening, and wish so much righteous courage that it made him slightly angry. But now the big 'what'.

Slowly, Sasukeh looked away from the wall to meet Naruto's questioning gaze. His expression was carefully guarded. "That," he murmured, "is up to you."

It made Naruto angry to hear that. Three days ago, Naruto would have loved nothing more than to hear those words, and would have left without ever looking back. But he knew Sasukeh didn't mean it. Never had Naruto ever really been allowed a choice. Not when he was young and baffled by an industrializing world, surrounded by smoke and always those dark, cautious, warm eyes. Not when he lived in his dorm room, looking down at a housing form for the next year while in the middle of one of their fall outs. Not in a broken battlefield, a sword by his side and a cold hand in his, blood in his lungs making it difficult to speak. And not now, so confused and still so torn, looking at his best friend, his best lover, his best enemy.

Naruto reached out for Sasukeh's gloved hand, brushing fingers against the stone-hard skin, feeling how dead it was and wishing he could heal it. But he would never, could never, will never be able to. Sasukeh turned the hand and laced his fingers with Naruto's, pulling the man closer until he's straddling Sasukeh's lap. They're at eye level now, and slowly they kiss, languidly, like it's not the most unnatural thing on planet Earth. When Naruto laps at Sasukeh's lower lip, the vampire sighs and opens his mouth to him, and slowly they meet in the middle. Pulling back half a half centimeter before colliding again gently. Naruto pressed Sasukeh back into the couch, wishing this was as real as the muscles felt underneath his palm. Sasukeh was lazily combing the hair back from Naruto's forehead, their kissing still slow and unhurried. When Naruto drew back for breath, Sasukeh slowly made his way down his throat, biting but not breaking skin. Naruto tilted his head back for him, cupping Sasukeh's jaw just to feel how it moved. Wishing it were all real.

Sasukeh switched their positions so that he lay on top of Naruto, pinning him down to the cushions. Naruto thought that the weight of him was heavy and cold, but comforting in the way Sasukeh used an arm to help bear part of the weight. They continued to kiss, never speeding up or slowing down, quiet wet sounds muted in the thick quiet of the room.

_Sasukeh, Sasukeh_, and forever, _Sasuke._

_ For destruction_, Naruto thought hazily as Sasukeh used a firm hand to begin to untie the knot of his bathrobe, _ice is also great, and would suffice._

And again, Naruto lost himself.

**November 29, 2005**

Sasuke pulled up at a roadside inn close by an exit off of the freeway. He parked in the farthest spot possible, and circled around the building until he got to the road. This wasn't an area he was familiar with, but Sakura had given him directions before he left.

_"There's a road there that goes on for about two miles, and leads you under a bridge. Past that is a strip of old toll gates. Go through there, and when you reach the city square, give us a call." _She'd kissed him on the cheek then, smelling like fresh lilies and something warm. Lee had clapped him on the shoulder, and Shikamaru had muttered something Sasuke couldn't make out before he was shown out and to the forest green jeep Cherokee.

Now he walked along the road that was proving to be more far more than two miles. He checked his watch at least once a minute, the seconds ticking by slowly. More than once he considered running it, but the night was practically freezing his breath to his nostrils and the rood of his mouth. Breaking an ankle on a patch of black ice wasn't in tonight's plans. So, at an agonizing pace, Sasuke walked it.

The night was dead quiet. Once or twice a gar chugged by him in the opposite direction, but too fast to get a look at Sasuke's face, or visa versa. For a mile or so he walked down a tree-line wood, heavy bushels of dead bramble and roots like fence posts, lining his way. Once he emerged, it was to a wide-open, six lane road. He walked on the side of it, even though there was really no need. Along the wide road, several plazas of discount department stores and outlets sat dead in the snow, their windows empty of anything interesting or up-to-date. The part of town was poorly taken care of, obvious in the way that the blanket of snow coating the parking lot was untouched.

Up ahead, like an ancient church, the bridge hovered. It had been closed down a long time ago, deemed unsafe for use. The hollow beneath it was like a giant, toothless mouth, gaping and dark. As he approached it, Sasuke began to shuffle through the bag on his shoulders that Sakura had prepared for him. In it was the phone, the car keys, a .9 mill glock, several things of water, an airtight pack containing a foil emergency blanket, several energy bars, and what Sasuke was looking for; a flashlight with a light, Lee had said, to rival a floodlight.

When Sasuke flicked it on, he found that Lee had underestimated that. Instantly, the dark night was filled with a yellow light so bright it made Sasuke's neck snap as he looked over his shoulder, afraid that it would alert something.

_Moron,_ Sasuke chided himself. _There's no one around for miles. It's fine._

But when Sasuke took his first step into the tunnel, he began to rethink that.

It was the type of bridge that traveled underground, underneath roads, with bright orange lights lining the top corners of the tunnel, only now they were black and dead. Only two lanes with a bold stripe of paint in the middle warning cars not to attempt to switch lanes. As Sasuke walked further in, he felt the pressure slowly causing a building tension in his ears. He scowled at nothing in particular. It was bad enough driving through these things in a car. It was even worse going through it with only a flashlight and a million clips from zombie movies catalogued in his mind.

_Naruto could never do this_, Sasuke thought to himself. He checked the digital watch on his wrist. He'd been walking through this for ten minutes. _He hates the dark._

Something flapped overhead and Sasuke resisted the automatic urge to jump. _And so do I, _he thought viciously.

When he emerged from the tunnel half an hour later, he shook his head, trying to get his ears to pop. He swung the bag off of his back again to return the flashlight, looking ahead of himself as he did so. The abandoned part of the city looked surreal with only the stars as lights above it. Behind him, his home town glowed bright, the light chasing him forward and illuminating his footsteps in the thick trench of snow. No one could have snow plowed this area all season. The snow came up well past his shins, nearly to his knees. He took wide steps, crunching through the snow. The toll booths were just ahead, and to the right of it, a wide field that separated this town from the next.

_It would have been so much easier to go across that, _Sasuke thought. And then, _Yes, because it's the epitome of normal to see a man walk to a deserted city in the middle of the night. Right._

He leapt over the poll in one of the toll booths. The windows were masked with grime and peeling stickers. He hadn't put the bag back on his shoulders yet, and now he buried through it. He stood still for a moment to try and see properly. The glock, shining a bright and deadly black, Dasani water like Swarvoski crystal, and there it was, like full gray lint in the corner.

Pulling it out, Sasuke opened it. The background was blue with the company logo, and the time in the middle. He scrolled through the menu to Contacts, and going down, he saw in the only name title a long list of digits. Frowning, Sasuke hovered over it and hit Send before bringing it up to his ear.

It rang only twice before Shikmaru's voice answered, a dull and uninterested "_Hello?_" in his ear.

Sasuke eyed the city wearily. Like it was staring right back at him. "Shikamaru," Sasuke replied, glaring right back at it, "I'm here."

**November 24, 2005**

Sasukeh had brought the ancient photo albums downstairs instead of dragging Naruto up there with him. Naruto had made himself breakfast, and was scraping off his plate when Sasukeh came back down with the book tucked snugly under his arm.

When Naruto was woken up that night, it was to a curiosity that proved insatiable. With a thousand memories that had been tucked so carefully away, he found that he needed some sort of outline to contain them. Some way to force those thoughts into a timeline that made a decent scrap of sense.

Naruto hadn't needed to explain any of this to Sasukeh. He seemed to understand Naruto on a level that he hadn't been able to appreciate in a long while, and he'd disappeared for a short amount of time just as Naruto was cracking a few eggs into a hot pan. Now he was carefully setting the book on the table. Naruto left his plate in the sink, wiping his clammy palms against the cloth of his jeans before rejoining Sasukeh at the table. The older man shifted to the side, allowing Naruto to stand directly before the open book.

In a teasing tone, meant to lighten the mood, Sasukeh said coolly into his ear, "Don't sweep it to the floor this time."

Naruto elbowed him in the chest, blushing darkly. Sasukeh chuckled. Ignoring him, Naruto slowly lifted the cover.

What struck Naruto almost immediately was that there were actual people in these pictures. More specifically--and this caused a heavy jolt in his stomach--pictures of him. Him in his old flat with his easels and work bench, him floating around the London streets, him in Cambridge when they'd gone to visit the universities there. There was Sasukeh there, too. Looking the same in those pictures as he did standing right next to him. Sasukeh kept up a constant, smooth commentary for each of the photos, explaining more when he saw that Naruto stopped on a particular picture, tracing it with a finger.

"Did I like this?" Naruto would sometimes ask, and Sasuke would reply with a yes or a no. "Were these my friends?" If they were, Sasukeh would give names and Naruto's mind slowly fit personalities back to where they fit. She was shy but mischievous, he was Naruto's old flat mate, that was one of Naruto's clients, that was the little boy that followed Naruto around like a second shadow whenever Sasukeh was absent…

"This is Sakura," Naruto said to himself, and was again struck by the similarities. A year ago, during summer break, they'd all taken a group trip to the beach and stopped at a photo shop on the boardwalk. There they'd dressed in Victorian outfits to take pictures. Lee had somehow cajoled them into doing it. Naruto knew that Sakura still had one of those pictures in her bedroom. But now, seeing it there and in front of his face… they looked so similar.

"Mhmm," Sasukeh hummed. He paused. "Is she like the one in… this era?"

"They're very similar," Naruto told him, a bit proud to be the one explaining something for once. "She liked you up to high school, until she met Lee in college."

"Who's Lee?"

Naruto frowned. "No Lee in London?"

Sasukeh shook his head 'no'. "I wish there was, though," he admitted. "She was very… persistent."

Naruto laughed. "I remember," he said, slightly fondly. "She always knew how to go after what she wanted." He looked up then, eyes glinting mischievously. "Kinda like a certain person I know."

Sasukeh smirked until Naruto shook his head, going back to the photos.

An hour or so later, there was a long moment of silence as Naruto finally closed the album. Sasukeh's hand was at the small of his back, rubbing away. He was silent, apparently having talked himself out. It used to be soothing. Now, Naruto wasn't sure. But Sasukeh knew what was coming. He had to. Naruto just had to be man enough to bring it up.

Swallowing stiffly, Naruto said, "I just can't leave him."

Playing dumb, Sasukeh asked, "Who?" as he moved to encircle Naruto's waist with his arm. Proving his point in the way that Naruto didn't move away from him.

Naruto swallowed again, and winced in pain. There was a giant knot in his stomach, and it took a great effort to speak around it. "Him," Naruto clarified. Then, "Don't act stupid now."

Sasukeh sighed, but didn't remove his arm. Instead, he tugged Naruto close to his side. "You can't have us both," he told him, and Naruto heard the unspoken addition to that sentence. _And you can't have him. I won't let you._

"I know that." But he didn't. Not really. There was Sasukeh, Sasuke, and why couldn't there be two of him, or one of them? Two worlds, because he couldn't possibly house both of them in the same reality. Lives overlapping, intruding where they didn't belong and staying there, refusing to die.

As if it would delay the moment he had to make that choice, Naruto leaned further into Sasukeh's side. Ignoring the closed photo album for now, Sasukeh steered them into the living room. Naruto allowed himself to be guided onto the couch. It must have been close to midnight, and while his biological clock was quickly adapting itself to this new life style, Naruto still felt tired if he sat still long enough. Sasukeh didn't repeat himself, but his words--_you can't have us both--_hovered in the air, a silent and very real threat.

The repaired grandfather clock--_when did Sasukeh have time to fix that?_--chimed midnight on the wall. Another day passed.

"You know," Sasukeh murmured, "I won our deal."

Naruto snorted. "That deal wasn't fair," he muttered. They sat on the couch now. Sasukeh shifted, resting his head in the curve of Naruto's shoulder. Absent-mindedly, he played with Sasukeh's cool hair. Tugging at the bangs, taking the tie and pulling so Sasukeh's hair fell loose about his neck. "Stop putting it into a pony tail."

Sasukeh yawned. "Make me, moron." They sat in silence for a few more minutes, time ticking away. Naruto wished he could have more of it. To stay on this old, beaten down couch forever.

"How was our deal not fair, then?" Sasukeh asked softly, as if he didn't really care about the answer. His hand was on Naruto's stomach, pushing the shirt up, reaching for skin. Sasukeh sighed, kissing at Naruto's neck. His lips found two bumps from where he'd bitten Naruto the previous night. His mouth curved into a pleased smirk, licking gently at the fast healing wounds.

Naruto grunted, half-heartedly shoving at Sasukeh's shoulder. The vampire relented, changing to gentle kisses. Merely mouthing the flesh, softly. "Well?" he prodded.

"You always knew I'd remember," Naruto said simply. "So it wasn't fair."

Sasukeh chuckled. "Perhaps," he conceded. "But I needed a bit of an edge to crack through your thick head."

"_Oi._ My head isn't thick, bastard. You're just a manipulative git."

Sasukeh's grin widened at the insult--one he hadn't heard in so long, he feared he'd never hear it again.

"That I am." He bit gently at Naruto's neck. The human didn't even flinch when two pearl drops of blood emerged, quickly swept up by Sasukeh's tongue. He hummed in approval, sucking gently, leaving a faint red mark by the time he pulled away.

He muttered something too faint for Naruto to understand. Cupping his jaw, Naruto lifted him so that they were eye-to-eye now. "What?" he asked, curious.

Sasukeh shook his head. He lifted a hand to slide it into Naruto's hair, tilting it, looking at him at an angle. Would it be too soon to ask that they pick up where he'd failed so dismally years and years ago? He was so impatient, so eager, to finish this. To fulfill that promise made so long ago, centuries and centuries. But Naruto was still looking at him with the utmost of curiosity. No hatred, no hurriedness, no nervousness. Just Naruto, finally, _finally _here.

_Where he belongs_.

"Surely there must be some things you're still curious about," Sasukeh said instead.

Naruto shrugged. "There are," he admitted. "More so about…" his eyebrows furrowed. "Were we really born… _that _long ago?"

Sasukeh laughed then. "Yes," he said. "That long ago."

"Do you remember any of it?"

Still chuckling, Sasukeh said, "Bits and pieces. Would you like to hear?"

Naruto nodded his head, scooting closer. _Warm_, Sasukeh thought, putting an arm around him. _Warm, _ he thought again. There was a brief image of Naruto cold, a pale blue, with dead eyes in his head, but he chased it away as he began to call forth memories from a time far before that.

**November 25, 2005**

Naruto turned over and hummed in his sleep. Sasukeh was up uncommonly late, around one in the afternoon, adding another few logs to the fire when he heard it. He brushed his hands together to remove the wooden debris, and then--

"Sasuke."

Sasukeh froze, hoping against everything that he'd heard wrong. That Naruto was mumbling random things in his sleep, his pronunciations skewed. But then he said it again, "_Sasuke_," so plainly, heatedly, like that name was the only thing in the world that made sense to him.

Sasukeh's hands clenched and he threw a dark glare at the curtains, through the window, to the world outside. To him, out there, somewhere. Who had a part of Naruto Sasukeh had never gotten the chance to experience.

And he wanted it.

Sasukeh slipped back into bed. He didn't pull Naruto to him, like he usually would, just watched. Quietly. And he planned.


	15. Behind You

**Author's Notes: **I promise that there will be more action next chapter. Please be patient with it…. Naruto will snap out of it soon. Also, I've finished the one-shot that won the poll back in November. It's NC17, so I've put the link to it in my profile. Check it out!

_**-Kodak**_

**November 29, 2005**

_"Good," _Shikamaru said, his sigh a rush of static in Sasuke's ear. "What street are you on?"

"Still on the freeway," Sasuke replied, looking about him.

_ "Then why are you calling me?" _Shikamaru grumbled. _"I told you to call when you're in the city, not when you're standing outside it gawking like a moron."_

"Well excuse me, then," Sasuke hissed, quickening his steps. The wind had blown banks of snow into uneven dunes, and it made Sasuke nervous where he stepped. Once he reached the shelter of the buildings, his footing would be more even.

The silence grew longer and more absolute. Sasuke worried that Shikamaru had hung up on him until the quiet man said, "_The police were here_."

"Were they," Sasuke muttered. He wasn't surprised in the least, but he could tell that there was more to it then that.

_"They just left half an hour ago," _Shikamaru said. "_They're keeping tabs on the house's phone lines from outside. They've set up a bug. And there are at least two surveillance cars parked a block or so down that I can see from the front window. Sasuke…" _Shikamaru sighed, sounding sincerely regretful. "_You can't come back here."_

Sasuke winced. He knew that. Of course he did. Sakura's home had been a on-the-spot decision and one he hadn't intended on making again. Sasuke's house was undoubtedly crawling with police, and without Naruto by his side, there was no way Sasuke could go back there, either.

"I know," Sasuke said. Nowhere for him to go now but to Naruto, wherever the hell he was. "Tell Sakura it isn't her fault."

_ "That's Lee's job." _More silence, with only the sounds of feet crunching in the snow to keep him company. Forget Lee's Ford. He should've brought a snow plow.

"I'm here," Sasuke told his informant ten minutes later. Here was another cluster of broken down retailers, but beyond that were two twin, industrial monstrosities. Through those were what looked like a concrete jungle, all covered in a blanket of white. Eerily quiet, with a few faint footprints in the snow. It felt sacrilegious to tread here, but Sasuke went on anyway.

"_Do you see a street name?" _Sasuke strained his ears hard and heard nothing in the ear pierce but Shikamaru's voice. Sakura and Lee must have been downstairs. Probably keeping an eye on the police cars outside. An uncalled for surge of appreciation swept through him, and he clung to it, the first warm emotion he'd felt in days.

"Yeah." Sasuke just passed the intersection between Old Lincoln Hwy. and Street Rd., but when he was about to say it Shikamaru cut him off.

_"Never mind. I can see where you are just fine. You just passed Street, right?"_

"Yeah." A little needlessly, Sasuke asked, "How'd you know that?"

_ "I'm tracking the phone's signal," _Shikamaru said, as if Sasuke should have known this. _"You're not that far from it, maybe two miles at most."_

"Yeah, sure," Sasuke muttered, remembering Sakura's estimate of the street he'd taken to get here. "Should I stay on the line?"

_"Yeah. I'll guide you there. Keep going straight for another five blocks."_

Sasuke did as he was told. It felt awkward walking in the middle of the street, so he stuck to the sidewalks. As predicted, the snow was less steep here and he was able to maneuver more quickly. The windows were like black ice, reflecting every detail of himself back to him. Sasuke checked his watch; it was nearing four. Would Naruto be asleep? Would the kidnapper? He could get in, take Naruto, get out--

_ "Whatever your brain is telling you, shut it up," _scolded the voice on the other end of the line. "_Getting closer to the blinking dot doesn't get you any closer to Naruto. The chances are as high up in the air as they were three hours ago."_

"I know that." But he didn't _believe _it. Sasuke was digging his own grave, getting closer to it city block by city block, but he didn't _care_. Sasuke was never the hopeful type. A pessimist to the end. But he found that, on the edge of despair, there was truly no place to look but up.

Sasuke went the designated five blocks. Before he could relay this, Shikamaru said, "_There's an alleyway five feet to your left_," like he was standing right next to Sasuke. "_Take it. It'll lead you out to Broad."_

Sasuke did as he was told. After the tunnel, this was nothing. Emerging from it a half minute later, he found himself on a road very much like the one the he'd taken after the toll booths. Eight different lanes split by three splintery concrete islands. The snow kept Sasuke from recognizing which way went which, and he felt like he was trapped inside of an Antarctic version of Alice's Wonderland.

_"Go left. Keep going."_

He did.

There was another ten minutes of silence. Sasuke didn't realize it until his legs and lungs began to burn that he was running. It was an uncomfortable feat, but he knew that even if he wanted to, he wouldn't be able to stop.

Taking no note on the increased speed of the dot he was undoubtedly watching on the screen, Shikamaru told him to take a left. It was down a one-way street with only a single line of footprints headed in the opposite direction. Sasuke walked in the middle of it, letting his feet fall in those prints. It made him feel a bit less like the last person on the planet to know that someone had been here before.

When he emerged, he was instructed to make a right. Three sets of feet now, but so soft that Sasuke soon lost track of them. He was alone once again.

_"You're getting close," _Shikamaru encouraged. "_Ten feet more. The road you're on is lined with houses, right? Are there any on the left with lights on? It should be right in front of you. One that looks better kept than the others, perhaps has the snow swept off the porch."_

Sasuke wasn't listening anymore, for he had shut the phone and pocketed it. He was sprinting again, snow shooting up like ocean spray behind his feet. Like a wolf that caught a scent of blood, he rushed towards the house.

The door was slightly ajar. His feet hit wood on small deck that made up the porch. The snow was swept away, the windows clear of grime. A diamond in the rough. He pushed the door open, and when he stepped inside, he felt his heart melt to the ground.

It was colder in here than it was out there.

Undeterred, he took a quick look about his surroundings. There was a living area to his right, and in the dim light of the moon he could just make out a kitchen beyond that. To his left was an odd sight. It was messily renovated, the wall separating it from the house next to it demolished. The other side of the house looked empty. On the right there was an old television, free of dust. Not a speck of dirt in the whole place. Sasuke's phone vibrated and sang in his pocket, but he didn't bother to silence it.

He knew that there was no one in this house. Somewhere, an old clock struck four.

That didn't stop Sasuke from going up the stairs. It led him to a second floor with three doors, all open. The one closest was a bathroom, dark and well kept. He walked past it, ignoring the other door and heading for the other.

It was the most well furnished room in the house, and it took him a moment to realize why he felt so odd walking into it. It had the exact same layout as his and Naruto's at home. The bed pressed to the far right, two bed side tables on either side. An alarm clock, a replica of the one at home, sat on what would have been Sasuke's side. The same comforter and sheets, and if Sasuke had felt the desire to sit on it, he was sure the bed would feel nearly the same.

There was a fireplace on the other side of the room. It was the only dirty place in the house, high piles of ash at either end of it. Freshly split wood was stacked in a meticulously neat pile, just the way Sasuke kept his at home. The mantle place was empty save for one small speck of silver shining at the end. As if stuck in a nightmare, Sasuke went to it, already knowing what it was. Sasuke picked up his cell phone and held it in his hand. Cold, but it was now powered on. With a shaking hand he placed it back on the mantle, like he was afraid of being caught touching it.

Sasuke thought in a daze for a moment, his whole body feeling disconnected. The police would track the signal. They'd be here soon. The place was abandoned, but not for long.

This was a trap.

Sasuke left the room, refusing to look at the bed a moment longer. He breathed through his mouth, so horribly afraid of catching a whiff of Naruto's scent. Not knowing just how badly it would tear at him if he did.

Sasuke shut the door quietly behind him as he left. He didn't know how long the phone had been on, nor how long it would take the police to get here. But he had a feeling that when they got here, like on the windowsill at his house they'd find only Sasuke's fingerprints. Sasuke's and Naruto's.

He picked up the phone in his pocket and called Shikamaru.

His informant answered before the first ring stopped. "_You _idiot_," _Shikamaru sighed. _"Don't scare me like that." _Sasuke worked forwards on the road, deeper into the city, wanting to get to the heart of it. To hurt it. To burn it to the ground. "_Sasuke?"_

"He was there," Sasuke said hoarsely. "But he's gone now. The house had been abandoned. Whoever was there left the phone in the house."

_"Did you take it with you?"_

"No."

"_Good. Was it on?"_

"Yes."

"_Walk faster."_

Sasuke didn't, and Shikamaru didn't repeat himself. He had to find Naruto, would always need to, but selfishly he was tired. He'd dozed through a few hours a night, and now he'd poisoned himself with a lethal dose of hope only to watch it whither up in flames. He wanted to find an alley, sink down, and sleep.

Shikamaru, however, wasn't quite done with him. "_This is going to sound ridiculous, but you're going to have to listen to me on this. Go back to Broad, stick to the sidewalks. Make a right from where you are, any side street will lead to it. After thirty blocks or so, you'll see a building. It'll be the first one with lights you've seen in a while. In it is a refugee center for the homeless in that part of town. I want you to get rid of everything you have. Dump it in an alley, I don't care which. Keep the phone, but get rid of the gun, the food, the water. Ditch the coat, boots, watch, scarf. Dig through the snow, find some dirt, rub it in your clothes. Tear them up. Blend in._

_ "When you get there, try to negotiate a bed for yourself. They'll give you food, but if the beds are full they'll send you back out. Stick around that building. Someone will come to get you in a few days."_

"A few days," Sasuke repeated numbly. His mind didn't fully register that he was now without a home, that he was banned from going anywhere out of this frozen wasteland's limits. That he was now thrown into unknown faces, people who didn't know him and didn't care to. He'd never slept outside before, let alone in the snow. Never lived a moment without knowing that there was some place he could go.

_"I can call in a few favors. Someone will take you in. I'll keep tabs on the police, and I'll work to try and clear your name. But with you missing too, it's going to be hard."_

Sasuke understood, but didn't say as much. He'd found a side street and way busy making his way up it.

_"You knew this would happen."_

Sasuke pocketed the phone. It was a marvel, really, he thought as he began to walk again. He was homeless, and yet the only thought in his head was the fact that Naruto still, still wasn't here.

**November 26, 2005**

A snowstorm had blown over the city that night, shaking them as easily as if they were in a snow globe. Sasukeh stood just inside the house, leaning against the wall and looking out the window. Naruto was just outside, looking up to the sky like he was drugged, walking back and forth across the street in even lines. The snow hit him to almost below his knee caps. There was a kettle of water kept warm on the stove for when Naruto came in, and a bath for the two of them after that. Naruto would be colder than he was once he came in.

There wasn't much around to explore, but Naruto insisted upon it anyway. Sasukeh gave him a limit of the one city block they sat on, so he'd be well within eyesight, and let him at it. He could understand the human. Naruto didn't like to think rationally, but whenever he had to, he preferred to do it alone.

So he wondered amongst the snowy world, every now and then scraping off clumps of the white stuff to form in his hands. Everything was white save for the stripes of black that indicated the alleys that ran gaps amongst the buildings. Sasukeh kept an especially close eye on those. There was the one he used himself for all the trash he collected, and for the things he'd cleared out of this old house, but the others were unexplored and probably inhabited by the hungry homeless. No need to let Naruto wonder too close to them.

Sasukeh fiddled with the hem of his glove before unzipping it. With a dead nail he scratched at his frozen skin, wincing. It itched him every now and then, and although it pained him to touch it, it would only feel worse if he waited too long. He slid the glove back on, zipping it back up, and walking back into the living room to tidy up slightly.

There wasn't much to clean. Sasukeh and Naruto had spent a majority of their time in the master bedroom, keeping company and then keeping busy. Talking, the never ending talking, and fighting through one issue or the other. Every now and then Naruto would drift aimlessly down to the living room to watch TV on a low volume, and they shared a silence so resolute Sasukeh had worried Naruto had gone mute.

Worried, worried, forever worried. He fretted over every little thing Naruto did like it was a sign the human had changed his mind. Not that it mattered,

Sasuke's fists clenched.

_Because I have already won._

**November 29, 2005**

Half an hour later, Sasuke's phone began to ring in his pocket again. Sasuke mechanically began reaching for it. The alleyway was far behind him now. The main street stretched endlessly before him as he headed further into the heart of the city, twisting and turning like a winding snake as images of fire burst through his mind every time he closed his eyes.

Sasuke put the phone to his ear. It was warm, and brought tingles to the skin when it touched.

_ "Sasuke, there's someone calling the house for you."_

Sasuke didn't stop walking. He didn't feel surprise in the least, only curious as to who the police had cajoled into calling. He had no family. "Who?"

Shikamaru sighed, and Sasuke heard a distinct mutter of, "_I can't believe I'm saying this…"_

"What?" snapped Sasuke, irritated. Was it his brother? It couldn't have been. He was still in St. Mary's, he didn't have access to phones…

_ "Let me say first that by no means possible am I encouraging whatever delusions you've been having_." He paused as if Sasuke were supposed to get it suddenly. "_Do not panic."_

"I can't when I've no idea what you're talking about." Sasuke felt too disappointed to be angry right now. He let the irritation hit and slide down from him like rain to an umbrella, feeling only the slight stirrings of emotions before they melted back down.

_"He wouldn't give a name," _continued Shikamaru, "_but… Sasuke, he sounded exactly like you."  
_

Sasuke stopped walking. His face drifted to the sky. It was starting to snow again. Flakes of snow clung to his lashes.

_"He said that… Don't get excited, Sasuke… he had Naruto."_

But Sasuke already knew that. It was like his body had been waiting for this moment the second he heard Naruto was missing. From the minute that old woman said to him, _It looked just like you._

_ "I asked him for confirmation, but he wouldn't put Naruto on the phone. I asked him for proof and he…" _Another paused. Sasuke never thought the day would come when Shikamaru would stumble for works. "_He told me there was a birthmark on his right knee. Kinda looks like a fire hydrant."_

Now Sasuke knew why Shikamaru was so nervous to tell him. It was winter, no one went around wearing shorts. The only way the kidnapper could have seen-- An image of the bed in the abandoned house flashed through his mind.

"Did you trace the call?" Sasuke asked, more to distract his thoughts than from a search for a real answer.

_"I didn't believe him at first. By the time I did, I had to close out of the program I was using to track yours and boot up a new one. I was using a high frequency setting for yours since it was off, and this must have been a regular house phone. He hung up before I could even get started. I'm sorry_."

"No number?"

"_No. He demanded to speak directly with you. I gave him the number for the phone you're on."_

"Can you track it through that?"

_"No. I'd need the phone here."_

_Of course_, Sasuke thought mildly. "When is he calling?"

_"He said ten minutes. So,"_ a pause as Shikamaru presumably checked the time. Sasuke wouldn't have put it past him if Shikamaru had set up a timer. "_Four and a half minutes."_

Sasuke slowly spun in a circle, eyeing everything around him. Every dark corner, every potential hiding place. He felt no eyes on him, but still…

_"It seems pointless to say this, but realize that whatever this man says can be a lie,_" Shikamaru told him. "_Don't believe him. Hear every word. Don't over-analyze, but memorize what it is he's saying. The way he's saying it. The tone he uses, how fast. Listen for background noises. Don't let a second of the conversation go without attention, because this might be the only call he makes. It might be to gloat. It might be revenge. It could be anything. Rule nothing out."_

In a way, Sasuke was listening. But he was too busy fighting the urge to snap the phone shut. Did such an old phone even have call waiting? He swung the bag off his shoulder and began digging through it.

Shikamaru must have heard. "_Are you getting the gun?"_

"No," Sasuke lied smoothly as he pulled out the glock.

_"Do you know how to use it?"_

"Yes."

_"Keep the safety on until you're absolutely certain that you need it."_

Sasuke flipped the safety off before sliding it into the hem of his jeans. "Right."

_ "Murder is a crime."_

_And what's this? _"I understand. I'm not stupid." _Deranged would be a better word right now._

_ "Just be careful._" Shikamaru hung up then, leaving Sasuke with nothing but his thoughts. And a wait.

Sasuke checked his watch like it would help him, and he wondered if he wanted the last two minutes to go by fast or last forever. And he wondered, _obsessed_, over what someone would ever want with his voice. And the impossibility that someone could walk around with his face. Had his mother had another son? One he'd never found out about? Using Naruto to get to him, or to replace him in this world together? To take his name, his friends--but Sasuke didn't care about those. He could have everything, everything but the only damn thing he'd ever found himself caring about…

Like an alarm his eyes were drawn downwards towards the phone, a split second before the screen lit up. I N C O M I N G C A L L

It began to ring and buzz in his hand. Sasuke stared at it for a second, and was frightened by a hidden urge to throw it against the wall.

He flipped it open and held it to his ears. Blinking his eyelids, he felt the snowflakes on his ashes, on his cheeks red from the cold.

_"Hello."_

**November 27, 2005**

Naruto had demanded access to the outdoors the moment he woke up that night. Slightly irked, Sasukeh had agreed, but insisted upon accompanying him anyway. Naruto didn't seem bothered, and after a quick breakfast for the both of them, they were outside once more.

Naruto did his strange pacing again, always looking up, not saying anything. Sasukeh kept a careful eye on him. Naruto had the understandable habit of tripping quite often when in the cold right after having his blood drained. Sasukeh would have told him 'no', but he felt he'd said that quite enough over the past few days.

Naruto said his name every night. "Sasukeh, Sasukeh," and it was like a pure shot of the strongest drug every time Sasukeh heard it. But it wasn't the same. In the day, during the depths of his unconsciousness, Naruto would murmur "Sasuke", again and again, and it kept Sasukeh up at night. Wondering when, or if, he'd ever be good enough.

In his darkest hours, Sasukeh hatched a plan. One with which he could go down two roads, one longer and more satisfying than the other, but both leading to the same destination. Sasukeh would go with the former first. Save himself needless planning and steps.

And if that didn't work…

Sasukeh's eyes strayed to the alley, and to what he knew was hidden there.

"Naruto." The man looked over at him, clouded eyes narrowing in confusion. "I think it's time to go inside."

_It's time._

**November 29, 2005**

"Where's Naruto?"

_"I don't believe you've met me before," the voice on the other line said. "But I've met you. Once."_

"Do you have him?"

_ "It didn't end well."_

Sasuke was quiet, breathing heavily. There was something set stinging at his eyes, and he swiped angrily at it. He hadn't cried so far, and he'd be damned if he'd start now. Whoever this was, in his opinion, sounded nothing like him. It felt to Sasuke like he was on a hotline to another world. The voice was dark and gravelly. The phone connection was bad, a constant stream of static in his ears. But he pressed the cell phone painfully close nonetheless.

Pathetically, he found himself saying, "I need him."

There was silence, and Sasuke was a hair's width from begging him not to hang up--"_Yes. I know."_

Naruto had never liked Sasuke's attitude. Respected it, yes, but never regarded it in a fond manner. He said that Sasuke assumed easily and clung to those assumptions like a lifeline, just to save himself from the knowledge that he really knew nothing at all. He thought Sasuke stood up for Naruto too often and not often enough for himself. That he blew himself up so high but chained himself so low. Naruto had worked tirelessly to fix that. When Sasuke got out of the hospital, Naruto was the first person who spoke to him. Not with words, but a fist to his gut and a shout of, _"There's a life after him! Fucking 'tard, you have a life!"_

So live it.

Sasuke suddenly felt as small and feeble as he did in the hospital room, cared for in all the ways except the ones that mattered. Hooked to feeding tubes, pumped with drugs, until he thought he'd never find himself again.

Naruto had helped bring it back. And now... Now…

_It's like it was all for nothing._

"Where are you?" Sasuke hissed into the phone, finding his voice in his anger. Naruto had never given up. _It must have hurt him, the things I said to him, the things I denied him, the things I forced him on him. How I'd take him for myself and ruin his other bonds so he'd stay stronger with me. It must have hurt him. But he bore it. Every wound, every burden, he's carried me so far I forgot how to walk on my own_. There was no immediate answer, so he said again, more loudly because his brain was pounding to the rhythm of his racing pulse, "Where are you?" Still nothing, and Sasuke could practically feel himself bleeding, on the inside and the outside and the whole world was _bleeding _and even if it wasn't it was _going _to be if he didn't--_Naruto had always been so damned strong._

_ "I can never be like you Naruto," _Sasuke had wanted to say, had always wanted to stay. _"So that why I need you here, right here. Be my crutch. Be mine."_

_ N a r u t o_

"_WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU_?"

Silence. The sky snowed, the world spun, and how could the universe possibly be functioning at this moment, at this point in time--

"_How about looking right behind you?"_


	16. Doppelganger

**Author's Note: **Thank you Rosa for editing this!

**IMPORTANT: **There's a sex scene that was edited out. It's linked to on my profile page. Please refer to that if you'd like to read.

_**-Kodak**_

"When you see yourself in a crowded room, do your fingers itch, are you pistol-whipped? And will you step in line or release the glitch? And can you fall asleep with a panic switch?"

Panic Switch, by _The Silversun Pickups_

**November 27, 2005**

"I've been thinking a lot."

Sasukeh dumped the rag he'd been using to wipe down the counter into the sink. He could hear Naruto's voice in the sitting room as easily as if he'd been standing right behind him. Sasukeh moved to join him on the couch, careful to keep space between their bodies as he spoke. "Don't hurt yourself."

Naruto snorted, because that's what he was accustomed to doing. Insults, anger, retaliation. The fire flickered in front of him and without putting thought into the words, because he'd back out if he did, Naruto said, "I can't leave him."

Sasukeh had expected as much. "That's very like you."

"I can't leave you, either."

"Hence, you're still here." Sasukeh said needlessly. "What's your point."

"Don't rush me!" Naruto said snapped. There was a half-empty mug of coffee in his hands, and he sat it aside on the table. "I've been… trying to think of the best way to say this."

Sasukeh snorted, but fell silent nevertheless. He had a good guess as to what Naruto wanted to say, and Sasukeh knew exactly what he'd be saying back.

"You know I don't want to leave you," Naruto told Sasukeh, suddenly wishing he hadn't put the mug down. He needed something to do with his hands. He bunched up the fabric at the knees of his pants. "But you're an idiot for thinking I'd want to stay away from him." When Sasukeh didn't say anything to contradict that, Naruto asked him, "What were you expecting to happen?"

Sasukeh shrugged. "Something like what happened to me, I suppose," he admitted. "I know how ridiculous it sounds to think that we'd be the same. But the earliest memory I have is waking up in that abandoned farm house, like this." Sasukeh ran a hand over the length of his own forearm. Naruto knew how cold it was. "And it's only been this past century or so that I've been able to recall even fragments of my human life."

"So you thought I'd just forget Sasuke altogether?"

"Something like that."

Naruto punched Sasukeh lightly on the shoulder, jostling the older man by a few inches. "If I could remember you," he muttered angrily, "I'd definitely remember him."

Naruto played with his fingers, studying the shadows they made over his palm. The fire was dying, and just to have something to do he got up to put another log on. He slid the gate aside and threw in a heavy split of wood, watching as the twigs slowly caught fire and began to fray at the ends like fabric. Instead of returning to the couch, he sat there on the rug. Soot would get on his pants, but he didn't mind too much. It would hurt Sasukeh to ignore him like this, but Naruto found he didn't care much about that, either.

"We need to leave this place," said Sasukeh from behind him.

Naruto rolled his eyes, not bothering to look over his shoulder. This wasn't new. Sasukeh brought up the option of leaving the country two, three times a day. It was always met with aversion or a cold shoulder. "You think a change of scenery is gonna change my mind?"

"That's not what I meant," Sasukeh replied softly, and Naruto casually shifted his attention from the fire. "When I first began pursuit of you, I estimated it would take far less time to convince you of your previous incarnation." Naruto tried to keep the jealousy from his face. He knew he'd failed when Sasukeh smirked. "I gave it a week, two at most. I needed a place to take you that was far from suspicion, and suitably enough this city was just that. I found two suitable places. One here, closer to the city, and one farther away. I chose here because it was more convenient for me when I needed to feed. But they'll begin demolition in this area in a few days, which means contractors should be arriving soon. We have to leave before that happens."

"And then what?" Naruto asked. "No matter where we are, or how far away from him I am, I still want to see him--Sasuke." Naruto tagged Sasuke's name on the end just to prove that he wasn't afraid of Sasukeh's reaction. The vampire visibly twitched.

"Speaking of him," Sasukeh went on, "that brings me to the second thing that I want to say."

Naruto paid closer attention now, interest piqued. "Yeah?"

"I never stopped to consider the extent of your feelings for… this version. Another me, in this era, who's grown up with you, cared for you, and vice versa. You loved him before you even remembered me. And I'd forgotten just how stubborn you were." Sasukeh looked away from Naruto with a light snort, balancing his chin on his hand and staring into the fire. His next words looked like they were spoken with a great deal of difficulty. "When we arrive at the new location, I'll go get him, and bring him there. And we can work this out."

Naruto's mouth hung slightly ajar, eyes wide. He gaped at Sasukeh like a fish, mouth moving but forming no words.

"I'm sure you would rather get him yourself," Sasukeh said, "or perhaps hold this inevitable conversation at his home. But I think it better to find neutral ground."

"Neutral ground," Naruto echoed dumbly, mind still reeling.

Sasukeh stood from the couch and made his way over to Naruto, sitting cross-legged across from him. There was something odd about his skin, Naruto noticed then. It looked less rough, no beginnings of a five 'o clock shadow on his chin and upper lip. The firelight flickered over his face, causing its contours to look like rippling orange silk. Naruto wanted to run a finger over his cheek, to feel how smooth it was, how heated it would be getting from sitting so close to the fire. "We'll be heading towards another house, very much like this one. Even ground. No one with an advantage."

_Except for the fact that you can't be killed. _Naruto decided to keep that thought to himself. Sasukeh looked very unreal right now, and also very, very immortal. "I want to get him myself."

"I'm very capable of keeping you here," Sasukeh pointed out. It didn't sound like a insult, but Naruto chose to feel offended anyway. "And I'm sure that he would do the same. I can't risk losing you."

"And just what do you think he'll do when he sees you? It'll be looking in a mirror!" Naruto exclaimed.

"There are ways of bringing him here without seeing my face."

"But wouldn't it be better if I just _called _him? I wouldn't even go there. Then you can have him here, on your 'even ground'."

"So he can bring your troublesome human police? Spare me."

"Then just how do you expect to get him here?"

"I managed just fine with you, didn't I?"

Naruto had nothing to say to that. And while he was rather against the idea of Sasuke being drugged and dragged out in the middle of the winter, the idea of seeing him was too tempting. Homesickness was now his constant companion, and just the idea of seeing him made it throb painfully in his chest. This was no time to argue. He'd do this on Sasukeh's terms, just until he had Sasuke here.

Sasuke and Sasukeh. Both of them here, together. And nothing would be missing.

Naruto's hand brushed Sasukeh's bangs back from his face, finally feeling skin. Just as soft as it looked. The thick hair felt cold, like ice between his fingers and he thought _Nothing missing, _before leaning in and kissing his cheek. _Nothing missing. _Naruto trailed kisses along his cheekbone to his ear, stopping there to whisper, "Thank you."

A faint smile graced Sasukeh's lips. He placed a hand on the side of Naruto's head and kissed him. It started off chaste, their lips barely brushing like it was their first kiss. "No problem," Sasukeh breathed, tongue chasing after the words into Naruto's mouth. Naruto groaned, half from pleasure, half from wondering how he could possibly be doing this right now…

_I love him, _Naruto though dizzily. _I love them both._

Really, he had no choice.

**November 29, 2005**

Sasuke could only come to two reasonable conclusions. The first was a doppelganger, a creature from German lore. A copy of oneself that walked the Earth, wrecking havoc under the guise of ones name. It would explain a lot of things. The man with his face who'd bought the alarm clock. The voice that lured Naruto on the phone. The voice that lured _him _through Shikamaru.

The other, far more reasonable conclusion was that Sasuke had lost his mind. From worry, stress, insomnia, hypothermia, perhaps a cocktail of all four. He shook his head slowly, blinking furiously. The cell phone dropped from his fingers as he rubbed his hands against his face. His cheeks were already stung harshly by the cold, and the added friction made them scream.

When he refocused his gaze, the illusion was right in front of him, although Sasuke couldn't find it in himself to be fearful of it, and at the same time found the experience impossible to describe. It was like walking through a House of Mirrors at a traveling circus, only without the Bearded Lady and the fire breather. The image looked contorted, small errors in his profile like typos someone missed on a document. The hair was a bit long, more full, the Widow's peak too pronounced. A slightly longer nose. The eyes were a bright brown, not gray. Small things that simultaneously proved that this was not a doppelganger, and that Sasuke needed to get to a hospital.

The surreal illusion worsened when the creature spoke, "Well?" in a deep voice Sasuke didn't recognize, tinged with the slightest bit of an English accent. There was a phone in his hand that he snapped shut and slid into the pocket of his pants. He wasn't wearing a coat, Sasuke noted, and seemed to have misplaced a glove somewhere.

"This isn't real," Sasuke informed the creature calmly. Its eyes narrowed, as if sizing Sasuke up. Up and down, up and down. "You're not real."

"Oh," the creature said, as if it had come to the same conclusion at the same time. "Well then," it said, sighing, perhaps just realizing himself the full extent of his imaginary existence. There were no clouds coming from its mouth. _Because it's not real_, Sasuke reminded himself, and wondered why he couldn't move. Had he passed out? Was he in a coma?

Then Sasuke was being grabbed around the waist and thrown over a shoulder, and all he saw was white, everything was always so _white_, before he crashed against a brick wall. There was a dull crack, a familiar pain years of judo had taught him was the fracture of a rib. It felt low enough that it probably presented no danger of piercing his lungs, but like a gurgling burp of magma it shuddered hotly in his side, burning.

From upside-down, with his feet nearly touching the sky, Sasuke realized that this was no dream. He began to list every curse he knew, momentarily forgetting grace as he struggled to find even footing. He might as well not have bothered, because a kicked aimed to his side sent him spinning into the middle of the street.

"My name is Sasukeh," said the stranger, calmly walking towards Sasuke as if he hadn't just exhibited strength and accuracy Sasuke hadn't seen except in movies. "And I wish I could be pleased to meet you."

Sasuke struggled to his feet. The man who called himself Sasukeh, a name eerily similar to his own, came towards him and Sasuke's quick reflexes brought a fist slamming into the other's gut. It was a move he knew could easily break the xiphoid bone, the lateral process at the bottom of the sternum, and could rupture the spleen. But Sasukeh just stumbled back, straightening again as if he'd never been struck. But he didn't progress any further, which Sasuke counted as a victory.

Sasuke took the slight break in interaction as a chance to survey him. Besides his name and carefully replicated facial features, the stranger was giving no outward sign of insanity. But this was probably deliberate. They both looked the other up and down coolly. Sasuke's heart hammered painfully in his chest, and he had to resist the urge to press a hand to his hurt side. Hopefully it was only a hairline fracture.

"You should have stayed at home," Sasukeh suddenly spoke, breaking the tense silence.

"Who are you?" Sasuke demanded frostily, shifting his stance so his side was facing the stranger, keeping his center line from being exposed. His toes were numb in his boots, the ground was uneven and slippery, and he couldn't tell who had the greater disadvantage.

"'Sasukeh'," he repeated. "Not very bright, are you." And in a quiet voice he could hardly hear Sasukeh said, "I have him."

Sasuke's heart beat increased embarrassingly quickly, brain running through all possible scenarios. There was always a chance, however small, that someone in the world looked like you. This had to be one of those cases. Either that, or they'd changed themselves to look like him. And Sasuke could think of only one reason for that, and Shikamaru's recent phone call resurfaced in his mind.

"You have Naruto," Sasuke repeated slowly.

Sasuke wasn't expecting an answer, so he was surprised when Sasukeh told him, "I do. And I don't think that he minds all that much."

"Where is he?" He figured that if he was answering questions, he might as well keep on asking them.

Sasukeh didn't answer his question. Instead, he said, "However different we seem…" before slowly trailing off. Sasuke's eyes were drawn to his mouth as he spoke for reasons unfathomable. He wasn't seeing what he thought he saw. "You and I are very much the same."

_Well that much is obvious_, Sasuke thought, but he had a feeling that appearance wasn't what Sasukeh was alluding to. A snowflake landed on Sasuke's eyebrow, and then another on the tip of his nose. It was beginning to snow, he realized. The world flickered like a broken television screen.

"I'm not mad," said Sasuke, but immediately he began to doubt his words. Was he mad? He was cold, hurt, desperate, and seeing his own doppelganger. What part of this wasn't mad? He could be talking to himself, or he could be talking to Naruto's kidnapper. Or looking at another part of himself, come alive in the snow from the grave marked with his sanity.

"If you're not mad, than neither am I." This time, Sasuke caught the fist before it hit him. He caught it a little bit too late, though, the awkward angle and weak deflection bending his fingers back. His ring finger snapped at the middle joint, the sound and feeling more sickening than painful. Grunting, Sasuke shoved the fist aside and swung up into the other's armpit. He didn't pull the hit in the slightest, but Sasukeh didn't seem to feel it at all. He moved with the throw and swung Sasuke's arm behind him, his elbow rising and driving into Sasuke's eye. And past Sasuke's ear, he breathed, "I fucked him."

Vision swimming with sudden spots, he struck out again, blindly this time. Sasuke's fist connected harmlessly into a shoulder, and what felt like steel claws gripped the arms of his jacket. Every one of his organs felt like they'd been misplaced. "_I fucked him."_ Possibly in an attempt to throw him again. Before that could happen, Sasuke swiftly ripped the buttons and clasps open, and when Sasukeh pulled all he got as an empty jacket. Jumping slightly on the ball of one foot, he spun in a swift motion that had his heel slamming into the side of Sasukeh's head. The man stumbled a few steps, falling to one knee before launching at Sasuke once more. He could make out the look on Sasukeh's face now; one of helpless anger, of a crazed aggression, like a bull in a bloodied room.

"I will not apologize for existing," Sasukeh hissed and it sounded so odd to Sasuke he was half tempted to ignore it, especially when he was shouldered roughly into the wall. With one foot he caught himself, but in an attempt to get away from a punch the ankle slipped at a crooked ankle, pain flaring angrily to life. The clenched fist slammed into the wall, and to Sasuke's great shock the brick actually cracked. But when Sasukeh drew his fist back, there was no blood, no sign of a cracked knuckle. _What the fuck, _Sasuke thought, dazed. He swung a punch at Sasuke's jaw and it glanced off. Moving like smoke, Sasukeh aimed a kick at his side. That too missed, and like the ripples on a pond the brick wall cracked on impact. _What the bloody fuck? _Then, "You touched him."

"Yes," the creature practically fucking _purred_. "And he loved it."

Sasukeh's next kick did not miss. Every bit of air was pummeled from his lungs as Sasuke was hit in the gut, slamming so hard into the brick wall he could practically feel his skull crack. Blood immediately drenched the back of his neck. He gasped for breath, choking on his own blood that had began to flood his mouth. He'd bitten his tongue somewhere. His whole throat was on fire.

With the words of a mad man, and this mad man had Naruto _trapped _somewhere, Sasukeh started to speak again. "I will not apologize for what I've done, or will do. But I do understand you, nevertheless. This pain that you feel," Sasuke could feel every bruise, every broken bone, his sprained ankle, his broken ring finger, his head that always hurt and how the cold stabbed at him with steely claws, and knew that none of those were what Sasukeh was talking about, "I've lived with it, far more than any man should. For centuries, everything important to me was missing, as it has for you these past few weeks. And for that reason, I will not apologize."

In a speed immeasurable to Sasuke's blurred vision, Sasukeh had him pinned to the wall with a forearm pressed against his throat. His head lit up like neon lights with agony and the world turned green, then blue, then red, then gray like he'd gone blind. He had already been gasping for breath, and his oxygen was not nearly completely cut off. Immediately Sasuke used his good arm to aim the hardest hit he could at his attackers face. Sasukeh's head snapped to the side, but swiveled back into place. Sasuke did it again, and again, and again, and over and over and over Sasukeh just let him. Eyes never leaving Sasuke's face he let himself be hit, as if it could make up for the black hole he'd gouged straight through Sasuke's soul, his heart, his mind and sanity and fucking _everything_. Anger. Everything was red again, everything was gone, and all Sasuke felt was _anger, _and it didn't help that this man would not _bleed_, would not choke or bruise or fucking _break_. And this unstoppable entity had touched Naruto. _Damn it all_, and Sasuke felt useless, so stupidly and utterly useless. _I let him touch him._

His hands gripped Sasukeh around the throat but the creature gave no sign that this affected him at all. He simply stopped breathing and just _stared _like a corpse. His skin was so cold, so human and so alien and Sasuke knew that this wasn't just a mad man. It wasn't even a man at all.

When Sasukeh spoke again, Sasuke saw the reason why his eyes were so drawn to his mouth. He had difficulty understanding what it was being said to him.

"You don't know a damn thing," Sasukeh hissed into his face, words like cold and steely venom. There was a tremor in his calm and collected voice now, the superior façade cracking and crumbling like a decaying brick wall. "Nothing of my pain, my anger, my hatred. How it has consumed me all these years. And how you simply refuse to _stay dead_."

When Sasukeh attempted to throw him again, Sasuke grounded himself more firmly. The soles of his shoes slid along the black ice, but found purchase in a broken piece of cement and it was Sasukeh that was sent flying over his shoulder. But like a gymnast the creature was back on his feet and barreling into Sasuke. Wiping the confusion from his mind for the time being, Sasuke caught a glimpse of what this truly was. A chance. His opponent--_the only thing I can afford to call him right now_--was losing his cool, the last thing he should be doing, and it might give Sasuke the chance to find his weak point. Nothing seemed to hurt him, but an old saying he'd once learned came to mind.

_'One can train every part of one's body, except for the eyes,' _He knew that hardly helped him. Take out his eyes, and then what? Someone with this much skill probably wouldn't be hindered by a bit of blurry vision.

Sasuke came at him with a fist that felt like stone, slamming into his stomach. Sasuke choked, but in his ear he heard a hiss of pain. Was he hurt somewhere? Did Sasuke managed to inflict some damage? He gripped the man's shoulder and let his body be swung by the other's momentum, yanking forward as he brought his knee up. It missed its mark, landing harmlessly in his hip. But it knocked Sasukeh off balance, and Sasuke brought the other knee up to dig under his ribcage, knocking him back. Lifting his leg up higher, he brought his heel down into his side and followed through with the motion all the way until Sasukeh hit the ground. When he was flat on the ground Sasuke threw all of his weight down, expecting the ribs to give beneath his near-two hundred pounds of weight. Or at least a grunt. _There is something inhumanly wrong with him_. It struck him as horrifically wrong again, and Sasuke knew that this must be what those people who punched mirrors in felt like. Misery had made him despise himself these past few days, and this was catharsis at its finest. Able to hurt himself without any damage. Sasuke pressed down harder.

Sasukeh's arms flailed around for a moment before grappling and finally strangling Sasuke's hurt ankle with a vice like grip. He tugged sharply, and while it wasn't enough to cause Sasuke to topple over it was more than enough to force him to shift his center of gravity to keep from falling. Sasukeh rolled from the relaxed weight, and with a palm he struck the side of Sasuke's knee. For a few seconds Sasuke's leg went completely numb, and then he fell to the side. Sasukeh had stood swiftly with Sasuke's ankle still firmly in his grip, tugging him nearly upside down. Sasuke braced himself on his forearms and tugged his leg back down. Planting that foot firmly in the snow, he kicked straight upwards with his other leg. The firm leverage he had on the ground gave the hit enough power to cause the creature to stumble back a few feet, giving Sasuke ample time to find his footing. His whole leg was tingling unpleasantly, and he shifted his weight to rest on the other.

Sasukeh stood up again. Sasuke surveyed him carefully. He could feel himself sweating buckets, but Sasukeh's face wasn't even flushed. No noticeable injuries. Besides the snow packed into his clothes and hair, he looked the same as when Sasuke first saw him.

"Damnit," Sasuke panted under his breath. "God damnit." _Naruto, save him, __**get **__him, don't let him get hurt anymore… don't let me hurt anymore…_

"God has no place in this," Sasukeh informed him. "Just us."

"Shut up," Sasuke snapped. He couldn't think of anything else to do. Sasukeh's eyes were cold and small in the distance, glaring fiercely.

"I have to say, you put up far better a fight than you did last time," Sasukeh amended.

"Quit fucking with me," Sasuke snarled. "We've never met before."

"Sure we have. Not in this century, of course, but we've met." Sasukeh smirked gently. "I can remember killing you."

**November 28, 2005**

**THIS SECTION OF THE STORY HAS BEEN REMOVED DUE TO SUXUAL CONTENT. If you'd like to read it, please refer back to my FanFiction profile page for a link. If it's not there, wait an hour or so and then try again. Changes to my profile sometimes take a while.**

**November 29, 2005**

The first shot sounded like a knife tearing through thinly woven silk. A quick, loud noise, followed by a whining tearing sound. When it was over, Sasuke finally took note of the glock in his hands that he'd reached for by pure instinct. He'd practiced in a shooting range in his teenage years, had taken up accuracy with a quickness that was nothing short of disturbing. He waited there. Sasukeh's shirt was too dark to show the blood, and Sasuke knew he was in shock. Standing there, he'd crumble any second. Any second.

But when he didn't, Sasuke took another shot. In the same place. This time Sasukeh took a few stumbling steps back. Again, he did not fall.

_What?_

_ "I fucked him."_

_ Kill_, Sasuke thought. _Kill._

Another shot, this time to the neck. The semi-automatic gave him two shots within four seconds of each other, one to the hollow of his throat, one to the Adam's apple. Sasuke could practically see where they hit.

In fact, he actually could. Two clearly pronounced holes, a deep dark black. A moment later his mind registered that the dark color wasn't from blood but the bullets themselves. Sasukeh took what looked to be a deep breath before coughing just once. The action caused the bullets to pop out simultaneously, and they dropped to the snow.

"What." Sasuke took another shot, to his head. It stuck for a minute, like in silly putty, before dropping. Another, another. To his leg, several to the stomach, his heart, his lungs, his throat again, the spot between his eyes. The shell cases fell like rain drops, the bullets making dull thumping noises. The recoil of the gun was causing his arm to go numb, and his shoulder felt like it was about to be disconnected. But he was too pumped full of adrenaline and pure astonishment to properly relax his arm. He felt the noise would shatter every bone in his body. Shooting, shooting, until the trigger gave a little less resistance and he stopped. The magazine was empty. He had no more shots left to fire.

Sasukeh had done nothing more than shake a bit, every now and then stumbling back a step or two. But still straight, eyes unafraid, completely unharmed.

_What?_

The semi-automatic quivered slightly in his grip.

"What are you?"

Sasukeh seemed to be considering his answer. Every second he took was another painful throb of his heart and lungs, muscles burning on too-little energy. Sasuke could feel himself begin to shut down and he wished that they were still fighting. The adrenaline was key to staying conscious, to staying _alive_. And then Sasukeh had to go and dig into what Sasuke first thought was his breast pocket, but then realized he was digging into skin, plucking out a bullet. Sasukeh held it up before tossing it lightly to the side.

"I've been referred to by many names," he answered finally. "Through lore, texts, word of mouth, and to my face. None have thus far seemed very accurate. Or, in the very least, believable. 'Vampire' is the most commonly used title thus far, I believe. But that doesn't seem quite accurate, either."

Sasuke snorted. For decency's sake, he asked, "Then what is it you think you are?" Because even though the evidence was right in front of his face, Sasuke found himself unable to believe. Perhaps after a few hours of sleep, a strong shot or twelve, he might be able to fiddle with the thought.

Sasukeh shook his head minutely. "More importantly than any of that, I thought I could do again what I've done before. Eliminate my problems by the most basic means."

Sasuke's grip didn't slacken around the hilt of the gun. If anything, it tightened. His finger trembled on the trigger. The magazine was empty, and it would take him at least half a minute to reload it with his general inexperience. Such a large margin could prove fatal, so it would be better to keep up the bluff for now. Sasuke was going through every episode of Ripley's Believe it or Not that Naruto had made him watch, and could remember a man who'd had bull horns surgically sutured into his skull, someone with legs that held the bone structure of a four-legged animal, and unsurprisingly several who had fangs implanted into the maxilla. This was just one of them, a maniac from a vampirism cult. Sasuke wasn't scared for him, but for Naruto.

But the indents left by the bullet were slowly filling in. Both shells and bullets lay dormant on the floor. There was no viable excuse for that, none at all, and for this moment Sasuke discarded the evidence. He was human, a human who just couldn't die.

Sasukeh fell silent again, staring at the gun blankly like he couldn't quite decide what it was. He spoke to the muzzle of the glock, "I want to kill you. And yet I can't."

Sasukeh stepped forward, but Sasuke refused to relent ground. He stood still and let the creature advance upon him with steady steps. He was impressed with himself for keeping his weapon so steady.

"I have lived through the guilt of killing you once," Sasukeh told him. "I will not worsen the experience."

When Sasukeh stood a foot from him, Sasuke had the queasy feeling of vertigo. _Doppelganger_ he thought, and just as easily, _vampire_, followed by _boogeyman_ and like a child he thought the last one fit the best. As a child he'd grown up with no parents to chase the monsters from beneath his bed and now it was catching up on him.

"Do you want to know what I am?"

"No," Sasuke said. "It wouldn't make a difference." Sasukeh was silent for so long, his gaze so absolute that Sasuke found himself admitting, "Yes."

"You're right about one thing," Sasukeh said softly, looking at Sasuke now like he was a wonder.. Like he was the freak. "It wouldn't make a difference. But it does matter. I'm everything you've tried to cover up about yourself, only too old and too tired to try and hide it anymore. I'd rather the sole important thing of my existence be dead than with anyone else. I'd rather destroy myself before letting anyone else touch him. As you have kept him from others through guilt and shameless manipulation, so have I. As you have clung to him to bring importance and comprehensiveness to a seemingly pointless existence, so have I."

Sasuke said nothing except for, "Where is he?"

"In due time." It was a phrase Sasuke's brother had used so often that in a knee-jerk reaction he squeezed the trigger. It clicked, and the moment it did Sasukeh had swept it from his hands. The indents on his neck and face were gone. There were holes in his shirt revealing clean white skin.

"He wants to see you."

"He wants me," Sasuke corrected him. "You found that out the hard way, didn't you, you spineless coward."

"A coward?"

"I may have done those things," Sasuke told him, "but at least he knows it. And accepts it. Does he give you the same courtesy? Did he just lay down like a broken doll and let you take him when you trapped him in whatever hell hole you live in?"

"You think you're the only one he loves," Sasukeh said blankly.

"No." It was out of his mouth before Sasuke could truly comprehend the weight of the word, but instinctually he knew. Just by looking in this man's eyes, he could tell that he'd already lost one side of the battle. Couldn't comprehend just how he knew, but some part of himself that had been thus far undetected was telling him so. "But I am the one he loves more. Which is why you want me dead. I'd want someone dead, too, if Naruto loved them more than me. But he doesn't. And that's your problem."

"I have lived century upon century," Sasukeh told him, and the words hit a deep part of Sasuke that revolted the very idea of something as supernatural in nature. "And in every one, Naruto has wanted me. Needed me. Loved me."

"And how many of you were there, then?" Sasuke asked, attempting to numb the sense of stupidity he felt with himself at going along with this. But before him was a man who did not die, and if in this reality such creatures existed, Sasuke would play on its field.

"I thought I told you I'd killed you."

"Did Naruto know about him?"

Sasukeh didn't answer, so Sasuke answered his own question. "No, then." Because he couldn't keep himself from asking, "Who was he."

"He was… more so you than me, I suppose. Human. Looking through his belongings I saw that he was a contractor. And Naruto existed too, of course. Naruto was an architect, and the man would have made his career. They were a perfect match."

"And you killed him."

"I did."

Unbelieving, Sasuke asked, "What happened to Naruto?"

Sasukeh frowned. Grief flashed brightly in his eyes for a moment and Sasuke felt indisputably angry at that. He was grieving over his past losses, and now was moving in to take what was _his_. "An accident. I could not save him."

Sasuke smirked darkly. "So you were weak enough to let him die several times over, and you think you can just keep screwing him over?" There was a part of him reeling at the idea of Naruto dying. That Naruto had existed once, twice, maybe even three times before, reincarnated over and over through the years. That this man was saying _he'd _been reincarnated. That he was talking about reincarnation in all seriousness.

"I was at fault," Sasukeh admitted. "But I would not be so foolish as to risk his life again. I know what it is that I'm doing, now."

"And what is it you think that you're doing? Trying to convince him to stay with someone who doesn't even _age_? And… what is it, do you drink blood too?" Sasuke sneered at him. "You want him to stay with a monster?"

The snow began to fall more heavily now, laying a fresh layer over the snow already at their feet. The patch of white was ruined, bloodied around them. It looked as battered as Sasuke felt. The sky was a dark, deep indigo. Sunrise would be in an hour or two, and he wondered if Sasukeh could be out in the sunlight. If he was a vampire as he claimed to have been called. If he was really this inhuman. Snow had fallen in chunks from the walls, and Sasuke could see graffiti. Letters, shapes, colors…

"I'm… not a monster, at least in the sense that you're think," said the vampire slowly.

"Then what are you, _in a sense_?"

"An unfortunate entity whose sole purpose is to exist whilst missing a very vital part."

"And what's that?" Sasuke sneered. "Humanity?"

"No," Sasukeh said. "You."

Sasuke retort was slammed into nonexistence before it could begin to form on his tongue. His mouth shut. A snowflake floated into his eye and he blinked.

"Living only due to the blood, the life-force of others. Existing to chase after the one thing that I've never been able to have. Stealing a love from someone else, making them as miserable as I. And forever missing that one thing."

The sky looked a little lighter, and the snow fell all the more heavily. Sasuke was having difficulties seeing. He was cold, standing here. It dripped from his face, and he could feel the warm blood in his veins. Had to remind himself to breathe.

"And that is the pity of my existence."

Having thus far been able to easily gauge Sasukeh's expression, Sasuke found himself at a loss now. He couldn't tell if it was one of misery or anger but he had a feeling that it was neither. Sasukeh looked aged, like some broken toy that should have been trashed years ago but that a child refused to relinquish. He appeared to be resigned, defeated and it gave Sasuke the feeling that he was depriving a starving man food. Trapped. Like Naruto, like him, so completely cornered.

Sasukeh dug for something in his pocket, eyes steadily rested upon Sasuke's. He noticed something strange about them. Amidst the vivid brown, almost wine-colored in its vibrancy, were three strange masses of black, forming a neat triangular face around the iris.

"Here." So distracted by his eyes, it took Sasuke a moment to see a folded envelope being held out to him. Sasuke was right-handed, but it was being offered to him by a left. _A difference? _Sasuke thought as he took it. Unfolding it he saw handwriting that was a near match to his, only slanted slightly to the left instead of the right.

_Cornwell Heights, 17__th__ St._

"When you wake up, head to that address," Sasukeh instructed monotonously. "Keep heading up Broad, and when you get to 17th turn right onto Cornwell. After that it'll take about two hours by foot. We'll both meet you there at nine, no earlier, no later."

The word 'we' clouded over Sasuke's thoughts for a moment and he pocketed the address. Then another thought struck him.

"What do you mean 'wake up'?" he asked, voice nearly breaking. He felt as though he hadn't spoken in years. "Just take me to him now."

Sasukeh hesitated. "There are some things I'd like to speak with him about that would be better said without your presence."

"You mean you're going to manipulate him," Sasuke dead-panned. "No. I can just wait in the other room if you're shy. I'm going with you now."

Sasukeh shook his head. A gust of wind blew across his forehead and into his eyes. "Hence the 'wake up' portion of my proposal."

Sasuke had always been a quick thinker, but Sasukeh's speed outmatched that. Before Sasuke could protest, he was out cold in the snow.

--

**Author's Notes: **If you'd like to review, please do it here rather than on my LiveJournal page. LJ doesn't send me a notice when I get a comment, so it's easier for me to keep track of who to get back to through FanFiction. Thank you!

Until next time,

_**-Kodak**_


	17. Naruto

**Author's Note: **And we've come full circle. I'm not bothering with dates anymore, as they're both on the same day. Enjoy the last chapter!

-_**Kodak**_

_Some say the world will end in fire,  
Some say in ice.  
From what I've tasted of desire  
I hold with those who favor fire.  
But if it had to perish twice,  
I think I know enough of hate  
To say that for destruction ice  
Is also great  
And would suffice._

_Fire and Ice_, by Robert Frost

They were curled up in bed, lights off and TV on. It lit the room with an assortment of dull and misty colors. Outside the wind rattled the window panes but the curtains hung heavily, dark and lifeless. But there was slight wind in the room, and Naruto felt cold. He was laid out on the bed, Sasuke's head resting on his stomach. They were curled towards the television set, eyes glued to it and faces coated in a glossy blue hue. Naruto breathed it in deeply, and in a sleepy voice he asked Sasuke to turn up the volume, he could hardly hear it. Sasuke rolled his eyes and muttered something about Naruto going deaf. He turned the volume even further down, the quiet growing. Naruto asking Sasuke to turn it up a bit more, and the muteness stiffened him as effectively as rigor mortis.

It kept Naruto's eyes stuck stiffly to the screen. He watched it blankly, the noise quiet. Sasuke fiddled with the remote, turning the brightness and contrast down until there was nothing but darkness and he was watching it like there was nothing more interesting. Naruto asked him to turn it up, but Sasuke shushed him, asked, Can't you see I'm trying to hear? And from the darkness of the monitor, a figure emerged.

He was in old-fashioned clothes, and Naruto recognized the man as himself. The gray of his blond hair, the pale white ash of the tan on his face. Naruto opened his voice, white noise replacing his voice and making the walls crack. Naruto began to scream at him, on the bed, and he watched because there was something behind him. Two something's, dark and tall and like death itself. It was Sasuke, he realized, only with half-faces. Like pale white masks covered one half. Two eyes in two faces, two halves of a whole mouth and nose, and when one fell the rest of the other's face fell, to the ground where it shattered like porcelain. Naruto crouched to the floor, picking up the fragments on the ground, looking to the Naruto on the bed and asked of him, _why_.

Naruto began to bleed form his nose, followed by the corners of his eyes, then his ears shortly followed by the cuticles of his fingernails. More white noise, and when Naruto opened his mouth Naruto could see blood seeping from his blood. Bright, bright red blood, so vivid it looked unnatural. When he, too, fell to the ground, Naruto felt under his eyes and found a wetness there. He pulled back his fingertips expecting blood, but saw only clear tears.

Naruto looked up again and saw, next to his bed, a young blond boy in a tarnished brown yutaka. He could hardly be older than twelve. His lower lip was bleeding, always the blood Naruto thought. Naruto touched his face. There was blood there. Three cuts, running diagonally up his face, fresh in their newness. He too asked _why_ and having no answer, Naruto tugged him to the bed. Sasuke was missing from his stomach, so they lay there together, staring. The boy began to cry and Naruto used the bed sheet to clean his face, from the blood and the tears.

Naruto found it odd to wake up and find himself fully content with being alone on the bed. He could smell coffee in the air. A hint of nutmeg Sasukeh added to the grounds (Sasuke used cinnamon). But his stomach revolted at the idea, somehow. He wanted water, any temperature would do, any faucet would suffice. Naruto didn't want to taste anything, just wanted the awful taste to leave his mouth. Guilt tasted oddly on the tongue when left to rot too long—like burnt sugar and spoiled milk.

He went to use the bathroom, and took a quick shower. Before he climbed in he turned to the mirrors, his eyes glued firmly to the sink. There were three of them. Two folded from the center, the third from the end. He pushed them all open so that there was no glass, only the washed out cream color the original house contractors had painted the cabinets with. The shelves were nearly empty. A toothbrush, a razor, toothpaste, shaving cream, and the shiny-tagged bottle of vitamins. Naruto popped two in his mouth and swallowed them dry. Without waiting for the water to heat up, Naruto climbed in and took his shower. There he stood for nearly five minutes with his mouth slightly parted, eyes closed, drinking in the hot water and letting it overflow down his chin. He remembered always falling asleep in high school, and Sasuke always told him his mouth hung open and he drooled more than Kiba's dog. And he said that that was how turkeys died, just staring up at the clouds when it rained until they drowned themselves. Naruto choked, and then coughed on the water when he accidentally inhaled a mouthful. Once he regained his breathing Naruto shook his head and began to lather his body with soap.

Sasukeh still wasn't waiting for him when Naruto got out, so with a towel wrapped around his waist Naruto went back to the master bedroom. Once inside, he was struck with an odd thought. What to wear? Naruto had never been concerned with that before, but not he found himself at a dilemma. Wear something that Sasukeh had gotten him? Naruto suddenly wanted the clothes he'd been kidnapped in, but those were pajamas. A pair of plaid dorm pants and a ratty t-shirt with the university logo on it. He could wear that and it wouldn't look weird. Inside his mind Naruto knew Sasukeh had probably thrown it out, but that didn't stop him from pulling out the drawer and slowly starting to card through the clothes there. Searching for it.

Half an hour later, Sasukeh found Naruto in the middle of the floor. Every inch of carpet seemed to be covered in clothes. Draped over the bed, one thrown into and slowly burning up in the fireplace. Sasukeh found it more than a little amazing that he had that many clothes, but then realized that Naruto had gone through the closet, too.

Naruto gave him a look, and Sasukeh started to pick up the mess. He didn't ask Naruto what it was he was looking for—whatever it was, he obviously hadn't found it. Naruto stood up, naked, and started to dress in random articles on the floor. A pair of black socks, dark gray slacks, one of Sasukeh's red shirts, before walking out without offering to help clean.

Sasukeh said they had a few hours before they had to leave, and they soaked up time with a deck of old playing cards. Naruto didn't question himself as to why he wasn't rushing this. Ordinarily he'd be half out the door by now, ready to go. But he was content to sit deeply in the sofa. One leg was crossed over the other, his foot jumping slightly in concentration. It was Naruto's turn to shuffle and he did a perfect bridge with them, the plastic so flexible with age that the cards flapped like tiny patters of rain. Naruto dealt, dealing Sasuke two and then himself.

"Hit me."

Naruto dealt Sasukeh another card, and then himself one, wincing when it was an eight of spades. Naruto lay them down, having brought himself six numbers over twenty-one. Sasukeh snorted, revealing his—a jack, an ace, and a nine of hearts—before allowing Naruto to take them and tuck them under the deck.

Naruto dealt again, and before he could reach for another card Sasukeh murmured, "Black jack," showing his Jack and ace. Glaring, Naruto shoved the deck towards him. "You deal," he grumbled.

Chuckling, Sasukeh did as he was told. After cutting the desk, Sasukeh dealt to him an eight and a ten. Furrowing his eyebrows, Naruto asked for another. A four of clubs. He threw them down, and Sasukeh showed him his—a ten and a seven.

"I would've won?"

"You would have."

Naruto glared at the smug grin on his lover's face. "You're counting cards, aren't you!?"

"It's a little difficult to deal with odds when you're not playing with a full deck of cards," Sasukeh said lightly, referring to the fact than in its lifespan the deck had its fair share of causalities. While he cut the deck he threw Naruto a fleeting smirk. "You should know what it's like to not be playing with a full deck, hm?"

"What's that supposed to mean, huh?"

Sasukeh just shook his head, his shoulders shaking a bit with slight laughter before dealing again. A king and a queen. Naruto eyed the deck, fingers itching as Sasukeh drew himself another card. "Hit me."

Naruto stared dismally at the five before throwing them down, having broke yet again. "I want to play another game," he declared.

"We could play strip poker," Sasukeh suggested, and as Naruto sputtered violently he dealt them each another pair of cards. "You wouldn't suck so much if you stopped playing so recklessly," Sasukeh suggested.

"Keep your advice to yourself," Naruto snapped moodily. "Hit me." A three, bringing Naruto to nineteen. "Again." Sasukeh rolled his eyes and dealt another. "_Fuck_! You're cheating!"

"No, you're just shit at cards." Sasukeh drew the cards into a neat pack, tapped them on the table, and flipped the top one up. Queen of hearts. "See the card?"

"No, I've gone blind. Go get me my cane."

Sasukeh slid the card into the middle of the deck and flipped the top one over. There in his hands was the queen of hearts.

Naruto leaned forward. "Whoa."

Sasukeh reshuffled the deck and showed Naruto a two of diamonds. He slipped it back into the deck, tapped the top, and offered it to Naruto who picked up the top card to reveal the same exact card.

"How're you doing that?" Naruto asked in reluctant amazement.

"Ancient vampire magic," Sasukeh replied monotonously. Naruto laughed, and Sasukeh glanced from the man's face to the clock on the wall. "It's almost time to go."

Naruto stopped laughing and glanced at the clock as well. He nodded once, and wordlessly Sasukeh began to gather up the cards. Naruto looked around him. The room looked a little more lived in than it had a week ago. There were empty carry out containers, a couch pillow on the floor, chairs drawn out from beneath the dining room table, random bits of litter on the table they'd been playing on. There was a shiny silver nickel sitting on the edge, and Naruto picked it up as he stood. Sasukeh gave him a curious look as Naruto wriggled it before his eyes a bit before closing his fist over the coin. When he opened his hand, the coin was gone.

Sasukeh looked faintly amused, and still a little sad, as Naruto bent at the waist to kiss him on the mouth. It lasted a few long minutes, warm and wet and soft. The tips of their tongues touched briefly before returning to their respective mouths, the kiss drying and the air cooling. The passion that could have sprouted was crushed as the air froze around it. Naruto brushed his lips along Sasukeh's cheek, always the more affectionate of the two, before kissing Sasukeh's ear. When he drew back, the nickel was between his smirking lips.

Sasukeh felt his eyebrow rise on its own accord. "How did you do that?"

"Ancient human magic." Naruto leaned forward as if to kiss him again, and as Sasukeh leaned up Naruto fell back. His face became blank for a moment, and Sasukeh felt a queasy feeling in his stomach, like he'd been caught doing something indecent. That somehow, Naruto had found out. Panic set in after a few seconds but then Naruto turned and walked towards the kitchen. Sasukeh took in a deep breath, his nerves frazzled and racing, eyes on Naruto's back. Naruto had never played with a full desk, always denied the opportunity, cards stolen at every turn and making him more unpredictable than a summer storm. You couldn't count odds on an uneven deck.

And for that, Sasukeh felt that he himself was in danger.

Sasuke held out an empty palm. Three drops of rain dripped onto his fingertips, trailing down numbingly. Cold November rain.

He continued walking, mindless of the details of where he was walking. The street stretched on forever. The top layer of snow was melting quicker than the bottom layer due to the rain, causing Sasuke's steps to falter and slip. He was quickly getting soaked, the clouds threatening to crush him as it was doing the snow. He remained mindful of the vampires directions, rubbing his neck every now and then when a particularly steep steps cause a fresh wave of hot pain to sweep through it.

Sasuke passed 5th street. The blocks were long, intermediately broken up by small one-way side streets. Twice he wrapped his way around two tall buildings to return to Main street. Twelve streets to go, then right onto Cornwell. Walk another agonizing two hours, and then Naruto. Sasuke was trying to sort his agenda into an advantageous order. Kiss Naruto first or punch him. Kill the beast the old-fashioned way or swallow his pride and find a sharp stake of wood. Attempt to talk, or get Naruto out as fast as he could.

He snorted, the noise causing a tiny cloud to erupt from his nose that was instantly lost in the rain. The last one didn't really require too much thought.

He felt like he was back in the Catholic school he'd been made to attend until his middle school years. Of being force-fed beliefs and denying them from the moment he woke up to the second his eyes fell shut at the end of the night. Remembered never finding God in his dreams or in the Bible but in something else. In late nights, during hot afternoons with rushed and rough affections, in eyes that didn't trust him but followed him nevertheless, and telling Sasuke, "_I donnow know why. I just gotta follow you. I gotta. Don't you get it, stupid head!? Don't ya geddit?"_

_ I get it. Just shut up already, idiot, I understand._

Sasuke sneezed once. He passed ninth street, the sign hanging at a near right angle from its post. He had around three hours more to walk.

Gritting his teeth, Sasuke thought grimly _I'll make it in one, _and through the slush and grime, bleeding and pounding with a wide assortment of injuries, Sasuke began to run.

_It's raining, _Naruto said to Sasukeh, looking out the window with his back to a vampire. Sasukeh had brought with them a single suitcase he'd claimed to have put in a few articles of clothing. Naruto heard him set it on the floor, and could hear how empty it sounded. Naruto knew how stupid he sounded. It had started to drizzle the moment they left the house, and began to pick up to a healthy promise for a good storm by the time they reached the stoop of their new destination.

Nevertheless Sasukeh agreed with him, adding it was strange to be raining so late in the season. _Not really_, Naruto had told him, putting his hand up to the glass window and feeling how cold it was. He wished there were some wood to start a fire, it was so cold in here. Sasuke would be cold, too, once he arrived. Sasukeh was looking for something in the suitcase behind him.

As if in a separate universe that existed side-by-side with this one, Naruto could feel himself in bed. Someone getting in behind him, wrapping an arm about him, pressing a freezing kiss to his skin. The air was warm and familiar, like in an open field as opposed to an old broom closet. _Breathe deeply. _In and out Naruto breathed, he was so good at it now, just breathing. Existing only to take in the next breath.

Sasukeh closed the suitcase behind him. Naruto wanted to change. His clothes hung damply around his body from the rain, making the cold even worse. Naruto began to shiver then, and he realized with a start that it had nothing to do with the temperature.

_Don't_, Naruto said firmly, but he knew he couldn't stop him. Knew he shouldn't have seen this coming. Sasukeh, the man, the monster that he'd loved for an immeasurable amount of time. Across the years like spindles of a spider web, twining into a dazzling and beautiful prison. Trapping him here, Sasukeh's arms wrapping from behind him and pinning him. Rain dripped down the glass, and it might have been a trick of the light but in their reflections, Naruto swore he saw a single tear leak from the corner of Sasukeh's eye.

Sasukeh told him he loved him, again, and again Naruto told him not to do it. I love you. Naruto knew realistically nothing could go off without a hitch when it came to them. He didn't let himself be afraid for Sasuke. He knew the fear would consume him whole.

_I love you._

_ You poor, pathetic thing, I love you. _

_ I feel so sorry for you. I'm so sorry for you._

_ I love you._

Naruto wanted to fight, but their reflections in the glass looked so good and so whole. Why would he want to break it? Something gently pricked the skin of his forearm, and Naruto touched the glass of the window again only to find it was warm.

_Don't_.

Sasukeh apologized under his breath, his arms no longer traps but supports for Naruto's sagging weight.

_Hey, don't look like that._

_ What's your name?_

_ "What is your name?"_

Naruto's hand fell from the glass.

Sasuke would never remember the rain in quite the same way. For as long as they both shall live, he would sooner bury himself in a coffin than let one more drop of water hit his forehead.

Why, he thought, did the greatest tragedies happen in the midst of a storm? Why would the defeated body be left to rot away when the last drop hit their skin? Because, naturally, Sasuke knew that's the way it would go. Only one of the same person could exist in the world. Like snowflakes, there could never be two of the same. To exist was a crime against nature and existence in itself.

Whose body would remain? His, or his?

Instead of blurring his vision, the rain settled over his vision like prescription glasses, bringing about clarity to a world he hadn't realized was blurred. There was blood, of course, that had been expected. There could exist no tragedy if blood were absent. There was the other, sitting on his haunches, looking like a lithe panther waiting for an opportunity to strike but knowing it must be patient.

And the star of the story, the unwilling main character and bringer of such boundless anguish that Sasuke couldn't help but think he'd relive the pain a million times just to see this face in his line of vision. Naruto's face was different, now. Two white patches covered his cheeks, and Sasuke noted absent-mindedly that that was just his skin. Completely bleached. But the most noticeable change of all was two black holes, the sizes of the blunt end of a tack, embedded in his pale throat. And the blood.

_Oh…._

It spilled continuously, from the crooked neck that had lost its tan luster, and mingled with the rain water. So bright it hurt his eyes. Perhaps brighter than even his cerulean pair eyes, which were currently locked behind closed eyes.

_What has he done?_

How could Sasukeh's eyes, the same exact shape of his, only dyed a color a shade lighter than the highlighted blood drenching Naruto's neck, show so much passion? So much love? Love fiercer than Sasuke's own?

_ No. This isn't love. This is selfishness._

_ Something he didn't have._

_ Something he wants. And is determined to keep._

_ He's… just like me._

Would Sasuke do this, too? Would he do something like this to keep Naruto to himself? Not safe, not necessarily happy, but his? Would he do whatever it took to padlock Naruto's heart away, and to keep it to himself? Would he take everything from the man, everything he wanted and everything he dreamed he wanted, everything he worked for and everything he hadn't rightfully earned. Would he set a path in stone for Naruto to follow, with Sasuke as the only destination? Would he seal Naruto's hand in his until the blond would have to chew through his own wrist in order to get free?

Would Sasuke do that? All for what he wanted?

Sasuke knew the correct answer, and then the right answer.

As he looked at the blackened clouds and the miserable rain, Sasuke lamented over the fact that he knew those answers were not one in the same.

The other Sasuke--Sas-_keh_--whispered to him to come closer. To not be afraid. Naruto was fine, he was saying, as if to a petulant child he had no choice but to attempt to appease.

How fitting, Sasuke thought dizzily. How so very, very fitting. Like a child he was frightened witless, and the monster was holding his source of comfort. How fitting. How so very damn well fitting.

"Come here," the colder one, the evil one, whispered, more urgently now. Sasuke didn't move, his frugal sanity quickly dissipating and drooling from his ears to the puddles below his sneakers. He couldn't feel his toes, and his nose hurt him, along with his ears. He was so cold. "Naruto doesn't have much time."

_Naruto_

_ Naruto_

_ N A R U T O_

Like a prayer to awaken the dead, it summoned in him enough energy to move forwards. Naruto, _N A R U T O_, was his safety blanket, and he wanted to go to sleep with him in his arms again. His safe word, to make the unbearable pain stop. The stop watch to close off the time they'd spent away from each other.

He wanted… he wanted to…

Wanted to wake up next to him in bed, to see the sun soaking into even brighter hair. He wanted them to tumble along with each other to the couch, or the carpet, when they bed just didn't seem close enough. He wanted to discreetly hold hands, like their relationship was a secret, but their own secret. He wanted to touch, and be touched in return, knowing he was safe. He wanted to fight and be stubborn, knowing he'd be forgiven. He wanted the big things and the little things.

They'd belonged to him once. What had he done, how did he deserve, to have it all taken away?

What had they done?

He wanted it back. All of it. The small things, the unimportant things that were priceless artifacts in his life.

He wanted it all back.

Sasuke collapsed to his knees when he'd deemed himself close enough. He looked at Naruto painfully, at the shallow breaths that rattled his lover's chest with feeble shakes. Sasuke was no doctor, but he was also no fool (a fool, a fool was just what he was, to go this far, to let this happen, _what has he done_). Naruto was going to die.

What he wouldn't give. To have it all back.

His knees brushed his doppelganger's. Naruto clutched in the vampire's grasp, but close enough to touch. Sasuke reached out a hand to place over the Naruto's heart, and he was grateful the vampire didn't put up a fight.

"Give it back," Sasuke whispered feebly, stroking his thumb over the heartbeat he barely felt. "Give it back to me."

Sasukeh ignored him. "You can save him." Never mind that it was his fault Naruto was like this (all his fault, kill him, kill me, but make it stop, _give him back_).

All Sasuke murmured was to give it back, to give it all back, and his mind screamed for sleep, and that it would all be over if only he could sleep for just a while. He'd wake up, wake up with Naruto nestled in his arms, _his _arms.

Sasuke didn't notice the other Sasuke lean forward until he felt a cold hand on his shoulder. Sasuke bent his head away reflexively, but slowly in his exhaustion. He continued to stroke Naruto's heart though his chest as the raven knelt forward. Sasuke could see his face now. Paler, paler than his. His widow's peak was more defined. His nose was slightly longer. His eyes were more narrow, and his lips slightly fuller. Three inky dots swirling lazily in his maniac red eyes.

And Sasuke, so numbed by cold, felt the fangs pierce him like two hypodermic needles, bringing him closer to God and to the Devil, to the limbo only death would drag him to.

The mouth was gone just as quickly as it had come, and all of a sudden Naruto was in his arms again, face forcefully buried into Sasuke's bleeding neck as the warm weight was shifted into his lap.

This was Heaven.

_ This was it._

Everything insane and wrong with the world, his neck bleeding and _bleeding _like it simply didn't want to stop, Naruto's face would be stained with blood, he knew, stained with Sasuke's blood. But that was okay. Naruto could bathe in his blood, and Sasuke in his, and they could mark and love and belong to _each other_.

Nothing had ever felt more fitting, more perfect, in his arms. It felt so good he wanted to cry, and he did, warm, salty tears that made no noise in the downpour. There was a horrible, nauseating pulling at his neck, and on some level he knew liquid life was quickly being sucked from his neck, but that feeling was drowned in a monsoon of uncontaminated bliss. Naruto's face felt warm against his skin, and he could almost swear the younger man was crying. Crying. Because he was just so happy, too.

So good.

So good.

What he'd wanted.

Sasuke wrapped his arms tightly around his torso and buried his cold nose into wet locks, He rubbed his cheek against Naruto's head and palmed soothing circles on his stiff back, alternating between gentle caresses and tight squeezes, even when his arms grew to weigh a hundred pounds each. It was almost worth it, the heart-wrenching wait, to feel this way. To feel so utterly content with everything that had ever wronged him. The rain became a cool shower against over-heated skin. The darkness was a welcomed, velvety blindfold shielding exhausted eyes. Sasukeh was just a reflected in a distorted mirror, easily breakable, but he didn't feel the need to right now.

Eventually, Sasuke grew too tired to sit properly, and found himself falling to his side, Naruto propelled along with him. Sasuke was fine with this. He just pulled Naruto closer, more tightly, against his rapidly dying body.

And then, all of a sudden, just when Sasuke was contemplating a happy death with Naruto in his arms, his lover was abruptly gone.

And Sasuke, pinned by the weight of the rain alone, could only let him arms flop lifelessly to the ground. Naruto's body was now propped against another, other hands were rubbing his back, and Sasukeh's face flinched a tad before melting into a blissfully happy, triumphant expression. Sasuke's own face felt hard and unmoving, like it had died before the rest of him. Naruto's face was red, so very red. His eyes were shut. Sasuke wished that he would open them.

"If it helps any, I am sorry, to an extent," Sasukeh was telling him quietly, voice almost going unheard in the humming static of the rain. But Sasuke was barely listening, too busy missing that wonderful warmth, too distracted by the frigid cold freezing his limbs into a pre-mature rigor mortis. Breathing was such a burden…. "In a way, he's yours, too." That 'too' didn't belong there, one of his last bitter thoughts. Sasukeh was straightening now, letting Naruto fall back onto one arm, looping the other under his knees. "But you know…" He slid gracefully to one knee, and then stood.

Had rain ever seen such disgrace, Sasuke thought. One winner, one loser, and he would be left to rot when the rain came to an end.

Was this death?

Nothing should be so painful.

They were turning, Sasukeh was turning, and Naruto was being taken away. It wasn't Sasuke's heartbeat that mattered, or his brain, or the blood that now barely flowed through his veins. It was what was in the vampire's arms. It was that. It was Naruto. Naruto that kept him alive.

_Naruto…._

"…I've been waiting longer."

And they were gone.

_Naruto…_

_ Naruto_

_ …Naruto…_

"_Naruto…_"

His eyes were already shut, but he could still see them walking away under the cover of sick black rain. The world cried and Naruto was taken away. His world died and Naruto was taken away.

It was just so cold.

Sasuke shirt and pants, saturated with water, clung feebly to his skin. The rain, cold and unwavering, showered over his cold and bloodless body as he slumped further to the ground. The gravel cut into his nose, but it didn't bleed. Sasuke didn't move again.

The end.

**Author's Notes: **To clear up confusion, this is how you become a vampire, for the sake of this story:

You have to be bitten by a vampire, and drained of as much blood as possible to keep up at least a minimal amount of time before bleeding out. This allows the venom to flow undiluted into the heart, to begin the transformation. The two canine teeth fall out and fangs immediately begin to grow, although not long enough to bite for the first few days. An adequate supply of fresh human blood is needed immediately to keep the body from dying during transformation.

In the last scene, Sasukeh waited until he saw Sasuke coming down the street before draining Naruto (who he'd drugged) of blood. When Sasuke came, Sasukeh bit him on the neck and had Naruto feed on him, affectively giving Naruto a vampiric life and causing Sasuke to bleed out.

I hope that cleared up and confusion! Thank you for following _Dentes, _or _Teeth_, until the very end. In a few days I'll post the epilogue. Until then,

_**-Kodak **_


	18. Epilogue

**Author's Notes: **_**PLEASE READ ME. **_Several days ago I posted the final chapter, so if you haven't read that first, don't read this.

_Epilogue_

Sasuke had been there for some time between five long minutes and ten short lifetimes, slumped across the ground with his cold dead arms cradling nothing. His obsidian eyes felt like glass marbles waiting to pop and roll out as soon as his skin grew loose enough. Sasuke's eyelids fluttered unevenly, and when he breathed it was like his lungs were filling with water instead of oxygen. Inside their shoes his toes twitched a few times before falling still. Oddly enough, his whole body felt warm despite the coldness of his skin and the ground. The snow had nearly finished melting, and it conformed to the shape of his body perfectly, like a custom-built casket.. Sasuke's teeth felt like hastily-made porcelain chips, shattering and grinding against each other, cracking in the cold. He thought he could taste metallic, and dozily realized his gums were bleeding. Odd, that when all blood had left him it decided to make its last exit through his teeth. It tweaked his nostrils with the scent of copper.

The world wasn't real anymore, Sasuke realized. And neither was he.

Naruto was real. Sasukeh was real. But not him.

Sasuke closed his eyes firmly, his chest rattling like an old and empty trunk. He tried to move, one last time, to stand and to follow them. But nothing would move. Everything felt like dying. So he focused on the deep breathing pattern he practiced when trying to sleep. Imagined, impossibly, sleeping in his bed and waking up with Naruto right next to him, kicking him awake and bugging him for breakfast because really, the idiot wouldn't cook worth shit.

As Sasuke quietly began fading, a set of footsteps sounded from behind him in the rain, but he had no more energy to turn his head around.

The homeless man, Kakashi Hatake shifted the forest green scarf down past his face to scratch the corner of his mouth. From between his lips, two tiny pricks of sharp fang protruded into his lower lip. Kakashi slid the wool hat from his head like he was at a funeral, only to then ruffle the back of his hair in faint discontent. His mismatched eyes stared down at the dying human with only mild interest.

"Well now," Kakashi murmured, "isn't this interesting?"

**-End-**

**Author's Notes: **Please let me know what you think! Thank you for reading _Dentes_. It's been fun. I don't know about the sequel. If I know I'll finish it, I'll write it. But it won't be for at least a few months. If you have any questions, please ask!

Thank you, and good-bye for now,

_**-Kodak**_


End file.
